An activist from the Russian branch of G

Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: An activist from the Russian branch of Greenpeace holds a stuffed seal with a sticker "Baikal is in danger" during a protest in front of the Rostekhnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Monitoring) building in Moscow 01 February 2006. Russian official environmental experts are bracing for a showdown with state authorities over a planned oil pipeline to Asian markets that they warn could pollute the pristine Lake Baikal in Siberia. UNESCO, which classified Lake Baikal as a World Heritage site in 1996, said the pipeline "threatens the area" and has asked for explanations from the Russian government, said Mechtild Rssler, a senior official at the United Nations body's World Heritage Centre. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP via Getty Images)