adesa a city in the south of ukraine a film assaulted republic. at the weekend local dave has set out on an underground expedition. the most comfortable way to get around the depths of the underground maze because by car. these manmade caves are the world's longest more than two hundred thousand kilometers long look at it will show me the way as a slave to the road or to the left normally i go from that side but if you make your choice this is a short cut but over there the scenery is more beautiful ok or go to the right of. locals call these pits catacombs stone for construction used to be mine kid the first excavation began some two hundred years ago. the pits stretching over some one and a half thousand kilometers have already been mapped each year research is chart new

need is covered caves that are schools of kilometers in length. a leg. scottish no longer there is no. old to tell you about it at all said the other end of the arch. how many meters there. it was or twenty ok thanks. the adesa catechumens were home to parties and bases during world war two members of the underground expedition hope to find one of them as the scientists who study caves known especially ologists found another passage did they map out the newly found corridor. but they can't go any further to the pits of flooded they can only continue with the help of diving equipment. is good water is too muddy we can't see anything where is the clear deep water

is a bit further on us. the pits all look alike underwater and you can lose your way in one time. they have to tread very carefully to avoid kicking up the line sediment it's next to impossible to find a way back through the muddy water. alexander has been able to determine the pits direction and height. of us i'm freezing. who went out that bit of passage to. we'll have to look for an alternative route now that will discover another bleach bottle of the adesa catacombs. vladivostok the main russian military naval base in russia's far east some eight thousand kilometers from a desolate russian engineers built the fortress here at the beginning of the twentieth century than time it was the biggest and most modern naval military

construction in the world. the southerland of all stoked defense frontline was located at muskie island the only way to get there was by ferry it was the military alone which knew about the existence and location. of many underground hideouts for many theaters today the island is open for visitors and members from the blood of a stork digger club off to tally dimitri and alexi carrying out scientific expeditions on weekends they explore military architecture monuments from different eras the island has them all including fortifications built by the military engineers of the songs as well the soviet underground hideouts. if you keep to the maps directions and don't lose your way chances are you'll find those installations

the problem is that they're hidden some way beyond the woods it would take more than one attempt to find them on. the ferry to the village of on the island of russkie reaches its destination in forty minutes the diggers came here to take a look at a unique fortification of addition of battery which for a long time had been a classified facility it was a key element involved of defenses for the purpose of these guns was to protect the city from sea and land assaults their range of fire was thirty five kilometers they were never actually used for military purposes and the last salvo for training was fired in one thousand nine hundred two now the fort is a museum. these guns were cast in the steel works in one nine hundred thirteen. sixteen metres long and weigh about fifty tons. principle if you really want to.

complex of underground structures three stories deep underneath the tower. was the last commander of the battery now retired he's the museums and is only too willing to show guests the underground storage of shells and powder. this is the third under ground floor located underneath of the tower it's sixteen meters deep the room was used to store shelves and here the shelves. nearly five hundred kilos a mechanical winch operated by two soldiers was needed to lift them. the soldiers did their job like clockwork. between shots it took them less than two minutes to reload the cannon and fire. it put it on a shell has been loaded the platform goes to the next rack i'll show you how it's

done. shells of various types are rotating around x. which of them is loaded depends on the orders of the commanding officer. if you turn around now you can see a rack containing armor piercing shell. first caves were dug in the late nineteenth century. russian military engineers build the world's most powerful fortifications inflatable stock after the defeat of the russian naval base at port arthur in one thousand and five during the war with japan. special care was taken to protect personnel from shells the votes were reinforced with for me to think concrete underground passages were also built between the caves. the fortifications cost seventy three tons of gold which equated at the time to approximately two hundred million dollars.

to refer to the cations of the saying every fortification has its unique layout depending on a particular district. the fortifications have been built of the highest points. the garrison of such fortifications could defend independently each holding out for two months of the most vulnerable parts of the fortification where the enemy could dig underneath the building dug what are known as counter mine galleries these are the deepest underground vaults of the fortress. soldiers would sit in these. listening to what was happening on the of the sonic the what if they heard someone digging underneath the force these were extended that way everything would collapse because of the explosion rendering this part of the fortress impenetrable to the enemy. the adesa catechumens scattered underground in all directions and the exact opposite of the straight cemented tunnels of vladivostok the soft calculus rock

allowed the adesa miners to extract stone anyway new mines were often connected to the old ones creating a complicated network of underground passages at the but there's not a soul was found in this because of the cancer cures. it still works well it can be used. kirk you can see eric cuts through limestone you can see how that is. until the one nine hundred seventy s. stone was extracted manually with the help of special souls but the process became simpler after a local miner invented a special stem cutting machine. the average depth of the adesa catechumens is twenty five meters but the million years ago it was actually the sea bed the remains of shellfish slowly built under extreme pressure to form a solid but light calcareous rock layer after layer but just as they did business there on new forests around the desa will suit to become be used as building

material breaks gone be made in the absence of coal and that the soupy built into limestone and underground mining it as soon as it does was founded and you constructions in the city are required more limestone. is used for almost all of the buildings in the residential houses and theatres shops and restaurants and even churches. today the vladivostok fortress is abuzz with activity each day scolds tara the quiet for number seven passages. going to have taken a fancy to the central park to comfort occasion. to school children on a slab until to perfect their skills by clearing the curtains they've set up. now

we know that our grandfathers and grandmothers built the forts that part of our history and. we really come here to skate. as a rule we skate here when it's just rainy or saw it. but most of the time the faults of the vladivostok fortress a quiet. in the peaceful environment of the central russian panzer region a hammock monk seeking silence dug out a small cave in a hillside close to the river. that was in one thousand one. later of the monks turned the cave into russia's largest underground church. in soviet times the structure was almost destroyed and buried but in two thousand and five excavations began. later a senior priest restored the church and now services and. fifty

people can be present at a service in the temple at the same time because that is why the temples considered the biggest underground temple in russia. the temples history is full of mysteries. according to the legend the cave was the beginning of several underground passages which lead far beyond the monastery territory the passages have not been found and excavation is still ongoing research is think that church items may have been hidden underground from the bolsheviks. excavators have already dug up and restored an underground cell when a hermit monkey's to live. so. now we are coming to a special place in our monastery. the old men will have to sit at this spot he would spend all his time in prayer he would spend ten years here. this

is the window he was handed food through from the male monastery on the ground the entrance would be sealed up he would talk only to god and spend ten years here praying. and dennis geophysicists they hope that special equipment will help them locate underground voids to support the rumors which claim the existence of the secret passages. well into the. city limits contain explicit potential curious. to see a slideshow. magic has better place in the sky and scenes of hope to protect our hearts we can provide such accuracy to many forms of. technology take care.

of the future covered. the adesa catacombs the world's largest manmade underground structure people extracting building stone here for over two centuries often found natural underground cavities filled with clay work was immediately halted in such places because of fears they could collapse local bakers take special care when examining such dangerous sections of the catacombs we think the remains of prehistoric animals can be found in the case of a. more than they. claim reserves bones very well.

but. of course the wood. clay is a wonderful preserving agent for such. little. here. these are fossilized burns. we'll give them to the museum of paleontology. addresses museum of paleontology is one of the best known museums across the former soviet union nearly one third of its exhibits feature objects found in the catacombs scientists discovered that thousands of years ago the area of what is now a death was inhabited by desert animals such as hyenas and camels there's also a unique exhibit two perfectly intact ostrich eggs they date back to the third century b.c. but the museum boasts even more valuable finds. this which is. very interesting

elaboration of the buying. a ways interesting question is. this little how has been the subject of debate how did it come about was it the result of mechanical treatment someone doubt whether this could have been done by ancient people this is highly unlikely there were no humans of any kind of three to five million years ago . clay helps the paleontologists make discoveries but it makes life much more difficult for geologists looking for an underground passage in the monastery in the pens a region the clay is so thick that it prevents their instruments from examining cavities hidden below. so the geophysicists turned to equipment used for vertical electrical sanding. it can pinpoint underground voids the depths of up to fifteen metres. up already.

let's begin before we're ready just as we know. to. nearly go electric shock. what was the voltage about eight hundred volts i would have thought. scientists gauge the electrical conductivity twice they carry out one test where they think a tunnel might be located the other is where they don't expect to find any tunnels this is to help make the results more accurate the tests reveal the identity cavities around the monastery. the new shows and tony the churchwarden the outcome of the tests and suggests that excavation work should continue. however have their own version of the underground ministries layout. according to the book. the monastery points east words when we accidentally turned the book

upside down the underground monastery revealed an image of the holy mother of god. the two entrances look like her legs. the baby's head. is the head of our lady the church and burial vault are her shoulders and streaming ropes we don't know whether it's a coincidence or providence. is that there is nothing accidental. these manmade caves attract artists as well as scientists. is a professional photographer and journalist some years ago she often to people on guided tours of the caves of the. us it was then that she came up with the idea of an art project to draw public attention to the neglected.

after two years preparations she began taking pictures of you can read figures wearing clothes and standing against the background of forts and underground galleries of the naval fleet. as a result you get something incompatible. you have current realities with those grandiose trust his covered with stupid inscriptions like so in south has been here on the other you have these creatures. so you get contrasting images. as opposed to basic human passions. now intend to draw attention to another underground object that up until now only special service officers knew about. the facility consists of several long tunnels and is

a former reserve command point for the region's leaders. the facility was declassified in the year two thousand and is now completely abandoned. digger enthusiastic intent to start a cold war museum in these tunnels and they've already got the first exhibit. with . the scary figure it is the will to. me and the guys from the dear club who made it as a sort of sawmill of what a long gone age was like joe montana has its roots. in fifty eight. symbolizes the cold war years a constant readiness for war. very little is known about the facility to this day. that's why. all the equipment and documents they find in the abandoned. ribbon with some text on it still work so we'll have to draw it to find out what it. is riven is

a very important they can help restore of the facilities history. names addresses and other figures we've got a lot to decipher. we've never been passed this. let's go. the official blueprints of the facility is still classified so the diggers have to study each room sounds. somewhat dangerous containing worn out electric power lines but that doesn't stop the research is curiosity and they proceed carefully. and there are two rooms there connected by a passage a wooden staircase leading up it's a very old. the bunker was built during the second world war in one thousand nine

hundred two it was intended for use by the primordial regions of ministration and had all the resources needed to support people over two months. this is obviously the communications are allowing the inhabitants to receive fresh information make decisions and inform people about their decisions this is over territory would be controls fortunately there was never a real war in these parts so the object was not needed. by contrast severe fighting used to rage in the adesa caves explorers are still finding parties and bases down there. world war two resistance fighters operating here for to get german and roumanian troops a group of diggers has found the camp ace of one of the potters and units black dust is all that's left of the straw that used to come one of the bands. here is something big there's a lot of something. i

found. sleep sometimes coins rolled out of their pockets. one hundred twenty to. search here once again. the diggers take every object they find to the small museum the cartridges and small coins will be added to the collection. these are the weapons. they represent the types of armaments you would usually find underground. the germans were aware of the location of the camps but they never ventured into the depths of the stone mines the only exit to the surface was three kilometers from the partisans base camp. to the camp were blocked up undermined sharpshooters carefully protected the main entrance.

normally these barricades were manned by two fighters they were on duty for two hours at a time and it was pitch black here an untrained man found it very difficult to sit here under such conditions very often the partisans saw the light when somebody approached the barricades from the entrances and they targeted it is just not the barricades are going to be unassailable that we. have never seen real life fighting but today there frequented by members of a re-enactment group response team imitate russian marines. is that. do you read me. the role players submachine guns and pistols are exact replicas of real weapons the only difference is that small plastic balls are used instead of live ammunition. and the filters are designed for military operations in the first

place second grandfather served here. as a military spirit and the atmosphere of this place for you. even the people working here once served with me in the same division of the marines. so we've got a lot in common i'm no good. in this exercise. his soldiers to defend the barracks in a final way possible which is seen by. breaks out in the fields on the. russian engineers built before christmas one hundred years ago still be defended against. with simply says. well this is going to defend this firing from this nice little full well that would be called in circles because the car is exposed to gun fire. protected by

thick concrete. even a flight of stairs stops attackers in that tracks. if someone appears from next to defend the first seat his feet. even if you crawl and all of the first thing you'll see is the fenders gurnard. several assault attempts have ended in failure the blood of a stock fortress has proved once again that it cannot be conquered. people have a special fascination with manmade caves the footsteps and flashlights of new explorers and pound to disturb the quiet darkness of the underground labyrinths for years to come but those who've experienced the excitement of the trailblazers are almost bound to return to this some world again and again.

russia will build a vietnam's first ever nuclear energy plant in a bid to further economic cooperation. the deal was during president macgregor first visit there finally for all the details of the trip there without. also in this week's top stories a fresh rift georgia allegedly arrests a network of twenty gathering classified information for russia but to police it keeps tight lipped about the claims. and russia and the us reach a united success as the first joint operation destroys four drug labs in afghanistan .

ten pm here in the russian capital you're watching our t.v. and welcome to the program now russia will build vietnam's first ever nuclear power plant dimitri medvedev said the deal will help vietnam develop as a powerful independent and modern state the russian president's visit to hanoi comes as moscow looks for closer cooperation with southeast asian countries that he does a lot of our reports from the vietnamese capital. many deals were signed today during the russian president's official visit to one noise but this is perhaps the most important this deal is said to be worth over five billion u.s. dollars and will certainly help vietnam establish stability in its energy sector vietnam of course suffers from a lot of blackouts so a lot of electricity shortage that helps president himself said help the kind.