to. and the world rings in twenty twelve with a bag with fireworks and celebrations across the globe here in moscow hundreds gathered on red square to watch a large scale extravaganza to light up the city skyline. now more sights and sounds from around russia too in a special report coming to you from the white sea. the white sea its surface remains choked with ice for nearly seven months a year. the chilly breath of the arctic ocean keeps the water freezing cold. near the coast however the high winds and bitter cold recede. that even in winter also can be seen through holes in the ice. board squeals and cracking

sounds can often be hood around them. this is how so-called canaries of the sea communicate. typically they hide under the ice and the white sea is the natural habitat. far from the civilized world in the north of russia on the coast of the white sea sea canaries are communicating with people with great pleasure in the open waters. could not take you on their behaving strangely today. show you why you had a canary why did you feel like giving us a song or it was something wrong with your throat stood. before you start singing

vs need. a water your best to go into is sure was more. than was a little let's give our throat some fish oil. bath now let's try to get off. sailors have dubbed baluga whales canaries because of the peculiar sounds they make . just my three wanted to bring us to ring. skin color distinguishes these marine mammals from their relatives. palooka cards are of a dark blue color. when they're one year old they turn gray like these

two female whales. later their skin acquires a milky shade. enough that yes this is exactly how they should be kept but the people in society should know that the bloke a whale is not a stupid fish as many believe that. we need to tell him that these intelligent creatures are worthy of perspex a sniff not affection i think. this dolphinarium emulates the conditions of their natural habitat as much as possible he's nice reasoning. in the come the luck should day of the white see specialists from the speeches but branch of the finale i'm in cooperation with the arctic circle dive center of set up an open enclosure to believe the whales. the nearest

settlement is a village of no local but ok still on the coast of the white sea. it was a stoppage by local fisherman known as coast well as in the twentieth century. this place is very remote and difficult to reach only dirt roads in the cold sea found that. such things do not. the doctor's visit to if from different countries around they dream of getting a close look appealing to whales and swimming with them in their natural habitats. yet before they're allowed to do so even experienced divers have to attend a special event called i heard about. being with this same company the organizers this trip and i talked with them and then when they said they were doing this trip dive with thought for got to do it to russia. this is a good place to visit species for the top of photography to get it he doesn't speak

to people in south africa about the watch either i don't know where it is at all it's a whole your experience for me and. i've been diving for the past eight nine years most seen topic a war. most seeing southeast asia. mediterranean away called a cold water but now. it's a warm water compared to here. in order to get to the depths of the sea winter divers first have to break through the frozen sea. the thickness of ice is about forty to fifty centimeters in the diving school so. it is hard work so the divers take the child into. the world this device was invented by an ancient people it's a type believe that it was taken it a step further and designed an intelligent device for snowmobiles to lift chunks of

ice nothing of the kind anywhere else in the world this is a regional structure does a job of fully man. lives . i styling in the white sea is a serious challenge in winter the water is bitterly cold. several hotspots bonuses are situated near every water hole here the divers change and comfort themselves after diving. according to international diving regulations one should be certified by the professional association of diving instructors before venturing on to the ice because divers must be wearing dry suits to make sure they don't freeze in the water the user is insolated by

a small film of air into the suit ok ok so you have to meet up and then you have priced it which is all that once it has seals he is using the net so in theory it's not supposed to allow him if you have an inflatable hose here and of those here say to keep it comfortable and you don't get squashed in the water with the pressure you put air into the suit keeps the nice and comfy and then if you're coming up on the sea you have to get rich is that they ventured out through here. a lot of preparation is needed before diving under the ice. it takes time to put on a dry suit as well as making thora checks on the equipment before finally getting used to the cold water. divers always had under the ice tethered to a safety line which is controlled by

a team member above take their over your head your rope your role the first dive is always made by an experienced instructor you like to tosca is to learn to navigate on to the ice to exchange signals with your partner correctly and to control the equipment. i styling is fraught with danger the visibility beneath is only twenty to twenty five meters if the breathing apparatus fails the diver will not be able to surface immediately because of the ice above. the diver has to be aware of where the exit is. even in winter time life goes on under the white sea ice. on the seabed near the bolshoi christofi island there are underwater columns of

kelp scattered about. cold water is the best environment for the seaweed. fish move slowly through the cold war to the sea bass are used to the divers and often let them come up very close. there looks a menacing and they're not even afraid of bright light. the thread like tentacles of the sea anemones give the seabed a fluffy comment. c.n.n. money's feed on plankton and other old comic con tickles the given a green here to the water of the white sea.

just. did it very air danger for sure had a more. it was true ari didn't want to come work. we only need ice cream that's going to be heaven. where you. go. for quite a few people the underwater world is not the only attraction of the white sea it's smooth ice is an excellent environment for kite sledging fans. only one of fail

often visits this remote place in the past he would only dive under the ice with scuba gear now he prefers to ride over the top with a special sledge and a parachute good killers but almost what i like about kite sledging is that you have a choice of parachutes or a three metre parachute is good for strong winds three to six to seven metre parachute is the right size for milder winds this one is nine and a half meters their case for any weather conditions or all of them will kill you forward if you want it to. by much be a good one you catching the wind is what i enjoy most of all it is like riding

a giant horse galloping up breakneck speed you go i am carried away by a feeling of exhilaration because i am fully aware of the infinite power of nature's forces used to just do it or they could pulverize my yacht sledge and kite in no time and make mincemeat out of me but yesterday. the weather on the white sea often changes abruptly but after a long struggle a leg is finally able to catch the with.

russia. which brightened. about song from finest impressions. moves from stunts on t.v. don't come. beluga trainer alexander and biologist natalia are cut off from civilization. they live in the village of new monkey bugs and work in the nearby arctic circle dive center. well so are you ready. palooka wails of plays an important role in their

lives this is where they first met and then got married. let's go below go. to the belugas knew him a tree owner would go to the wife see dolphinarium when they were about one year old. alexandra natalia became their foster parents they tended fed and trained them. keeping in touch with palookas is not only that job but it is also a hobby and a way of relaxation. i . train in belugas means playing with them any hostility against them is totally

ruled out. whales and dolphins have an acute sense of how humans are disposed towards them they respond to friendly treatment. therefore a very many people come here they want to communicate with the belugas and touch them and to sing in you're sure what's most important is that this is not a circus of showing off the animals ability to leap carry balls in the eighty's and we've been pretty clear people simply communicate with the living creatures you will see just the old. palookas get to the top. to humans very quickly if they communicate with them for a long time they learn the habits. of thinking with you when you look at your sometimes their skin ages you and i have certainly experienced that thought you but they have no hands to scratch the spot so they like being scratched by bite you

afford to turn it over and offer their sides to make a point of scratching and stroking all the if she spots but. we also massage their stout bodies. they open their mouth but we don't allow everybody to touch their nice looking tellings. many people don't do it gently enough so we put them off we protect our charges and for you if. this is an offshore enclosure for belugas even a natural environment in wintertime these palooka whales always flock to go swell winds and currents create cracks and holes in the ice. then they can resurface to brief. large patches of open water close to the village of new mcgrew never freeze over thanks. according to geological evidence the white sea appeared some twenty thousand years

ago. the people who first settled in this northern land find hundred years ago close to us. fishing and hunting with their means of subsistence. many of them drowned during hurricanes and storms. locals still put up landmarks of the most dangerous sites they serve as a warning to others. along the shore of the white sea their villages founded hundreds of years ago by coast welders. the oldest one is jordan i read which means black river. is. first mentioned in historical scripts in fifteen eleven. the church stands above the village it was named after some trifle the protector of hunters and fishermen. according to local tradition this church had to look like a ship. sailed north along the white sea coast and reach the shores of

spitzbergen island even the women made the longest sea trips. look at the women went fishing in the city on rowing boats they caught fish many kilometers away from their homes and they went by these robots not by ships you can still see women on such boats in the third row in a particular way saddle as men usually sit with their backs facing forward and negative at the local women sit facing each other like this. why do they do this. for girls are so silly so the course of the trip to a fishing area takes a long time at the moment. in winter time far from. their own was several shots out to sea belonging to divers. they were located in front of the rocky shore of bio filter bank. the white seas

under the influence of the tide its water level of the shore rises up and down twice a day. in the bay even in winter you can see a change of ice level of the coastline. you know why there are daily tides in the whites only about what they're triggered by the moon's orbit around the earth you have the amplitude of high and low tides in the wide sea is about two mazes both in summer and in winter well the ice i'm standing on will take six hours to rise to this level at that with your mouth up with little names that six hours later anyone standing here will have no problem stepping out of the building of ice frozen to the rock. in bio filter bank a diver's learn how to work in pairs on their own so that they will be able to dive under the ice without an instructor. some

divers stand above the ice hole and control those who are underwater then they swap places. after the first two dips divers understand clearly that their lives depend on those above the ice. when everything is working fine it's fine but are these funny the moment something goes wrong you have what they called narrowing of vision and you use the ability to to think like which increases your breathing and this and creates a panic so it's like a circle you just create more and more panic very difficult to get out of that so. besides the obvious part of getting you back to the hold this is like an umbilical cord that keeps you calm. in the depths of the ice world the sense of danger is very relative. near the rocks piles of ice a formed. ice piles up of the white sea coast due to the ebb and flow.

huge chunks of ice create corridors and labyrinths stretching over many meters. this is the underwater world bio filter bank. it is so cold because plankton lurking on the rocks in ice cleans the water and also gives it unique colors. divers call this place the ice kingdom. bus so you can fly zone other planets. nobody can certainly not now ask the americans a visit to the moon's probes of landed on mars and venus but actually another planet is right here on earth it's a parallel world with a parallel dimension everything is different here i think people know much more about how to space than they do about what's under the seat of bush's vision sure

but. there are hundreds of maritime biological research stations in the world today one of the most remote ones is in the candle laps of gulf of the white see. an old wind powered generator is the symbol of the biological research station belonging to moscow state university. only a handful of staff stays at the station in winter young students from moscow state university's biological faculty often pairing their theses presentations. biologist yellin across nova has served at the station for twenty five years she often comes here with family in winter. she studies see ida ducks ensuring i stay here. i just spend nearly all of the life time on water and in the end. it is only during the brief reproduction period that they make nests on

the shore they always stick together on land as they do on the sea. young female dogs who are that their own nestlings help be on the females to race their baby birds and sometimes several get together to form a kind of kindergarten where they grow their flesh things together should with him to find a safe place with enough food for their ducklings raising them together is the convenience thing to do. on. the water in the white sea remains cold even in summer time but the idea ducks are never affected by the cold water they bob in the waves the whole day. undercoat is the best biological heat insulator it doesn't let the one thought in the old days where there were new modern synthetic materials around the fluff was used to make clothes for polar explorers and sleeping bags and it's indeed an excellent insulator.

like seabirds beluga whales simply don't feel the cold the temperature of their bodies always stays at ninety eight point six degrees fahrenheit thirty seven degrees celsius. the thick layer of hypodermic fat keeps the heat in well however it makes them look somewhat cumbersome. instinct compels palookas to save energy. they're easy movements never exhibit aggression. after a brief course of ice diving almost all divers go swimming with belugas in an open enclosure. for many it is a dream come true because nowhere else in the world can you communicate with the little whales in their natural habitat. and. our task is to provide

a good dive that so that the whale school so we in the deep waters for awhile communicate with people and then come back to the surface we treat them to fish if they fulfill the task correctly the is the syllable in the pride and that. the whales are as careful divers cannot move as fast and graciously as they can so they adjust themselves to the divers movements. people always talk to the whales in their own language but beluga whales can barely hear human speech they perceive high frequency sounds. the huge forehead serves as an acoustic tool thanks to that palookas hope effect echolocation. in communicating with human beings

they can comprehend body language and facial features. but divers or was trapped feeling that the whales understand them perfectly and even on so back with their unusual speech. for that reason sailors nicknamed them sea canaries. a lot of good.

on r.t. tonight president obama imposed tough sanctions on iran over its disputed nuclear program despite threats to shut off a key oil supply route in the gulf. the syrian regime's crackdown on demonstrators continues unabated forcing our arab league observers. to rein in the violence. some celebrations. here filled with protests civil war and regime change.