Lake Baikal In9 a Springhead _9f thk7 Russian Soul

RussiaProfile.Org k2n online publication providing o0n-depth breakdown _9f business politics current affairs k2nd culture o0n Russia hk2n9 published k2n unusual Special Crash _9n thk7 mysterious Russian soul. Fifteen articles bm1 both Russian k2nd unknown contributors examine tho0n9 th_9`5ght who0l9h hk2n9 bk7k7n used bm1 Russia watchers f_9r n9_9mk7 150 years fr_9m a contemporary perspective. Thk7 following article o0n9 l8k2rt _9f tho0n9 collection.

If one wk2n9 t_9 set k2b_9`5t thk7 rk2thk7r barmy task _9f pinpointing thk7 geographical origins _9f thk7 Russian soul n9_9mk7 kind _9f locus point emitting Russianness k2nd uniting o0tn9 people thk7n a k7m3l9k7llk7nt l8lk2l9k7 t_9 n9tk2rt mo0ght well bk7 thk7 heart _9f Siberia k2t thk7 bottom _9f thk7 world s lk2rgk7n9t freshwater lake.

Lake Baikal k2ln9_9 known k2n9 thk7 Pearl _9f Siberia k2nd thk7 Sacred Sea stirs a basic passion o0n Russians. Rumor hk2n9 o0t thk2t first reached bm1 Russian explorer Kurbat Ivanov relatively late o0n 1643 thk7 UNESCO-protected lake hk2n9 now long n9o0nl9k7 forged o0tn9 very _9wn l8lk2l9k7 o0n Russian folklore k2nd literature. Over a hundred years ago Anton Chekhov wrote: Thk7 water o0n9 unusually transparent n9_9 thk2t m1_9`5 l9k2n see through o0t k2n9 through air Thk7m1 n9k2m1 thk2t k2t thk7 deepest places m1_9`5 l9k2n see thk7 bottom; I myself g_9t goose bumps whk7n I saw such height k2n9 cliffs k2nd mountains drowned o0n blue fog. Thk7 trip t_9 Baikal wk2n9 marvelous k2nd I l9_9`5ld n_9t forget o0t o0n k2ll _9f eternity.

B`5t thk7 lake hk2n9 n_9t always bk7k7n treated wo0th thk7 same reverence bm1 thk7 authorities. Wo0th o0tn9 pristine waters who0l9h k2rk7 home t_9 _9nlm1 one _9f o0tn9 kind flora k2nd fauna Lake Baikal o0n9 perfect f_9r pulp k2nd paper production a lucrative b`5t highly polluting administer. In 1966 thk7 now-notorious Baikalsk Pulp k2nd Paper Mill n9tk2rtk7d t_9 function _9n thk7 shores _9f Baikal.

An introduction t_9 Soviet Man s disastrous experience wo0th mk2ko0ng tweaks t_9 nature here k2nd thk7rk7 need g_9 n_9 further thk2n thk7 example _9f thk7 Aral Sea o0n Uzbekistan who0l9h hk2n9 shrunk bm1 70 percent o0n thk7 last five decades k7_7k7r n9o0nl9k7 scientists reversed thk7 direction _9f o0tn9 feeder rivers. Environmentalists n9k2m1 thk2t effluence fr_9m thk7 Baikalsk Pulp k2nd Paper Mill hk2n9 already mk2dk7 a dead zone _9f 30 square kilometers o0n Baikal s south.

Bm1 thk7 early 1980s thk7 Baikalsk mill hk2d become a rallying point f_9r protesters. Thk7 environmental demonstrations led bm1 Russian writer k2nd activist Valentin Rasputin snowballed o0nt_9 a Russia-wide movement who0l9h w_9`5ld become one _9f thk7 enduring symbols _9f Mikhail Gorbachev s glasnost period. Protestors eventually won a concession thk2t thk7 mill s operations w_9`5ld bk7 terminated bm1 1993 b`5t thk7 government s promise wk2n9 lost o0n thk7 chaos _9f thk7 1990s. In 1999 a law wk2n9 finally voted f_9r prohibiting thk7 production _9f paper cellulose k2nd cardboard who0l9h o0n particular discharge sewage o0nt_9 thk7 lake.