Guests and residents of Saint Petersburg had a chance to go aboard five functional icebreakers today. The world's only icebreaker festival is taking place there. Apart from free tours, it offers a tug waltz.
Dmitry Pishchukhin's reporting from the Neva embankment.
"Mom, look how big it is".
There are mile-long lines on the Neva's embankments. It has already become a tradition. The country's largest diesel and electric icebreakers, before going to the vessels' home port, tie up in Saint Petersburg for two days to let aboard anyone who wants to.
"Not just our son, we ourselves want to see the icebreaker. It's a mighty, big ship".
This year, as many as five conquerors of the Arctic entered the Neva. All of them are pioneers. Kapitan Sorokin is the largest icebreaker of the festival. It's almost 160 feet tall and around 450 feet long. On the background of the parade in Saint Petersburg, it's reminiscent of a modern skyscraper. On the other hand, the windows on the command bridge give a wonderful view of the city. In the 1970s, the Kapitan Sorokin was the first ship to open the year-round navigation through the Yenisei. An unusual shape of the bow doesn't break the ice, but rather cuts through it, like a scalpel.
Here's the hot heart of the icebreaker, that instantly sets the 16,000-ton vessel into motion. The vessel's power-plant could supply electricity to an entire neighborhood. At the same time, the icebreaker can work independently for almost a month.
The festival of the Arctic conquerors is one of the top 10 events that draw tourists during the May holidays. Today, it's a new brand in Saint Petersburg. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. The festival will end tomorrow with a colorful dance of the tugs. After that, the icebreakers will leave the Neva River.
Dmitry Pishchukhin, Alexey Sasyrin, Alexandr Burushkov, Galina Orlova, Vesti from Saint Petersburg.
