Moscow Diary: Hidden depths

The BBC's James Rodgers explores the vastness of Russia with a trip to Lake Baikal and reflects on the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. His diary is published fortnightly.

SIBERIAN SUBMARINES

You fly for six hours through five time zones.

When you land, everything looks the same.

Even the airport looks like it has been put together from a huge, prefabricated kit to ensure that it resembles the one you thought you had left far behind. The people speak the same language as they did at your departure point.

The night disappeared somewhere along the way. You start to wonder if the lack of sleep is making you brain play tricks on you.

It is not. The differences are soon obvious - small at first, then huge.

The "Mir" expedition sought to set a world record for freshwater diving

There's a lake which looks like the sea.

I was in Siberia to cover the start of the "Mir" expedition to Lake Baikal. "Mir 1" and "Mir 2" are the names of the two mini-submarines the expedition is using. They achieved international fame, or notoriety, last summer when they dived to the seabed beneath the North Pole.

The lake is so vast - the deepest body of fresh water in the world - that much about it remains unknown. The submariners began by trying to see if they could find the deepest part of the lake, and set a new world record for freshwater diving.

The team was under water for more than six hours. The wait at the surface was a rare opportunity to appreciate Lake Baikal in all its shifting, savage beauty.

As at sea, a shower can come seemingly from nowhere - and just as soon be replaced by still air and bright sunshine. Just before the first submarine surfaced, a rainbow stretched over the sky above the support vessels.

Even though it was hard to escape the sense that this particular "record attempt" was staged for the benefit of the sponsors and the media, it was impressive to see the expedition at work. A huge crane lowers the subs into the water. When they return, a member of the team leaps from an inflatable dinghy to secure the hook which lifts them back onto the barge.

BIG HEAD OF STATE

We returned from Lake Baikal to Ulan-Ude. The Lake Baikal expedition was about mapping Russia's wild nature. In the city, you get a sense of the great effort Moscow has made to establish its political identity across its entire territory.

A huge head of Lenin dominates the central square of Ulan-Ude

Ulan-Ude is the capital of Buryatia - the region of Russia which borders Mongolia.

A huge head of Lenin dominates its central square. It is almost two decades since the end of the USSR - but this bust is going nowhere.

Maybe the local administration feels happier with it there. I did hear the phrase "dear comrades" a couple of times.

Perhaps it's just too big to shift. Or perhaps, this far from the capital, they're not really bothered either way.

Like Lake Baikal, you have to get very close to see what's going on under the surface. You can't really see from Moscow.

MAKING SENSE OF RUSSIA

I got back to Moscow to report on the death and funeral of Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

This was a man who knew the vastness of Russia. On his return from 20 years in exile, he travelled across the country from the Pacific coast to Moscow.

In the reaction to his death, you got a glimpse of the reverence accorded to writers in Russia.

He was praised for his literary achievements, and his bold opposition to the Soviet system. He was also hailed as a prophet, and the conscience of Russia.

Russians look to their writers to make sense of their country. They ask more of them than other nations.

Solzhenitsyn's life and times show why.

He was driven from his country for two decades. When he died back in his homeland, the president came to his funeral. He was a former dissident sent to a labour camp by the secret police. As an honoured citizen in his 80s, he received one of Russia's highest honours from Vladimir Putin, who used to be in the KGB.

At the time of Solzhenitsyn's death, Stalin, the dictator whose regime sent him to the Gulag, is a close second in a poll to find the greatest Russian of all time.

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Your comments:

Solzhenitsyn was attacked by the communists because he was for freedom and liberty, and he was attacked by the Harvard culture just as much when he attacked the USA for our freedoms that allow evil to flourish, with crime and other excesses. His commitment was to truth, and while in prison he met devout Christians and became one himself. He suffered very much but that is the fate of any who stand for truth! Someone said that if you speak truth you had better be funny or people will kill you. Or in his case, just imprison and torture and exile.
Rev Dr Alden Marshall, Sevierville, USA

Just to nitpick, you said that you heard "dear comrades" said several times. This is a very poor stereotyping of communists. "Comrade" is just another word in Russian, not indicative of ones political leanings. It's very much the same as "mate" in Australia or "buddy" in America, more formal perhaps, but nevertheless. A Russian can be a free market liberal but still say "comrade".
Oleg