The Russian Mir-2 mini-sub has found several shiny metal objects on the bottom of Lake Baikal that could be the legendary Tsarist gold lost during the Russian civil war, the Fund for the Protection of Lake Baikal said.

Explorers have long been searching for the Tsarist gold that was allegedly carried by Admiral Alexander Kolchak as he fled the advancing Red Army during the Russian Civil War following the Bolshevik Revolution.

One legend has it that "Kolchak's gold," estimated at 1,600 tons and worth billions of dollars, was lost after his train plunged into the world's deepest freshwater lake from the Krugobaikalskaya line at Cape Polovinny.

Some substance to that story was borne out last year when explorers found fragments of railway carriages and ammunition boxes dating from the civil war. Considerable skepticism remains that the gold is in the lake.

But the skeptics were dealt a blow on Monday when the Mir-2 submersible found "shiny metal objects" resembling gold bullion some 400 meters below the surface near Cape Tolsty.

Explorers attempted to grab them with the mini-sub's manipulator arm but failed to due to the crumbling gravel on the lake bed. One consolation is that the explorers have determined the exact position of the alleged treasure, the Fund's director Baira Tsyrenova said.

Kolchak, portrayed in the Russian blockbuster film Admiral in 2008, led the pro-Tsarist White Army against the Bolsheviks after the 1917 October Revolution.

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 31 (RIA Novosti)