Russian Nessie in the news

Is that Nesski? Russian scientists claim lake is home to Siberian Loch Ness monster

    Giant underwater monster rumoured to be living in remote Siberian lake

    Echo scanners found evidence of 'giant dense moving object' measuring over 30 feet

By Will Stewart

Russian academics are calling for a scientific probe into claims of a 'Siberian Loch Ness monster' in one of the world's remotest lakes. Researchers using underwater scanners have found evidence of 'Nesski' - measuring up to 33 feet in length - in the deep waters of Lake Labynkyr, says a new report.Intriguingly, the evidence is at a lake where native Evenk and Yakut people have long claimed an underwater creature lurks. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2205595/Siberian-Loch-Ness-monster-pictures.html#ixzz26xcfSoBW

Lake Labynkyr is a deep lake situated on the territory of Oimyakon uluss. Legends speak about the monster that lives deep in the water of the legendary lake and attacks dogs, reindeers and even people. Stories say how one day the monster wiped out a caravan of Eleven ( one of the native peoples in the area)people. There are several documented encounters. The public first learned about the monster in the 1950's from the diaries of soviet geologist named Tverdohlebov. Since then several expeditions have set out to prove or disprove the existence of a monster. It is said that it could be a huge pike, a water mammoth, a reptile or a plesiosaurus, or even something from the parallel world. The expeditions don’t seem to have reported any findings.

I came across a story from the nineteenth century that in a remote region of Russia known as Sakha, or "the Devil" there lived a monster in the lake there called Labinkir It was said to be a large, aggressive creature. Further research found the following : Two geologists in 1953, doing prospecting work reported to the USSR academy of Science to have seen the creature who according to their testimony appeared from the water and approached them menacingly before disappearing. Then in the early 1960’s several people said they saw a monster with a long neck come up out of the lake making an eerie sound. Another person who saw it reported it as being lizard-like. Some reindeer owners claimed they saw the monster’s long neck bolt out of the water, trying to catch a nearby fowl. In 1964 a group of hunters claimed they saw a deer swimming in the water with a dog in pursuit. Suddenly out of mist a giant dinosaur-like monster appeared and the deer and dog disappeared into the waters.

A group of biologists from the university of Moscow on a research trip into the extreme eastern part of Russia declared they could not rule out the creature's existence.” We have scanned the bottom of the lake with an echo meter and have run into long living objects in movement" was the quote in "Itoqi" ("The Balance",a Russian weekly founded in 1996.)
Head of the expedition, Liudmila Emilianova, concedes that the 5 to 6 meter objects are not irrefutable proof of the creature's existence but believes their findings to be "a first step of a sensational discovery." Professor Emilianova believes the eye witness testimony of the local people. One of these reports given by a fisherman whilst out in his boat ,was that he saw the creature rise out of the water and then submerge. Others claimed they have seen the creature in Lake Verona about 20 kilometers away and it is suspected by some that the creature goes back and forth via an underground tunnel. Professor Emilianova said she will return to the Lake with more sophisticated equipment to further research the area.
 The lack of a lot of documented sightings may be because the lake is some 150 kilometres from the nearest civilization,a village called Tontor, and is ,without doubt, one of the most isolated areas of the world, and very cold, temperatures often dipping to -70 degrees below freezing.(,however like Loch Ness, the lake never freezes). There are no paved roads and one could only arrive by horse, airplane, helicopter, or land rover.

I then found the following report, I presume from the expedition:

The expedition to lake Labinkir was in end of august 2000.

The lake Labinkir is located in a remote part of East-Siberian mountains, at height about thousand meters above a sea level.. The unique natural conditions (in particular probability of presence of underwater caves system) and inaccessibility for the man, allow to assume that from very old times, in its dark waters could live ancient animals.During expedition, the measurements of lake with the sonar were made. The bottom in places of measurements was equal, with light evaluations. Average depths about 35 meters. The vegetation at the bottom lakes completely absent, bottom structures is small rocks, and there is rather low fish. During one of gaugings, the abnormal signals, from a large body (about eight - ten meters) were received, which has passed on depth of eleven meters (general depth of twenty two meters) under a boat, make several circles nearby and disappeared... But the questions have remained.