--- description: The Russian leader, who is on a three-day visit to recently annexed Crimea, plunged into the Black Sea inside a mini submersible title: See Vladimir Putin Ride a Minisub in the Black Sea image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa766e9134ff13d/69885fd4cd1bbadbc56fcc77/putin-submerge-black-sea-5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See Vladimir Putin Ride a Minisub in the Black Sea by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2015 5:40 PM CUT  President Vladimir Putin sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, on Aug. 18, 2015. President Vladimir Putin sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, on Aug. 18, 2015.Alexei Nikolsky—AP by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2015 5:40 PM CUT **See Next**: [_23 Pictures That Prove Vladimir Putin Thinks He’s an Action Figure_](http://time.com/95422/vladimir-putin-action-figure/ "undefined")  President Vladimir Putin sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, on Aug. 18, 2015. Alexei Nikolsky—AP  President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Sevastopol, on Aug. 18, 2015. Alexei Nikolsky—Ria Novosti/EPA  President Putin sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black Sea along the coast of Sevastopol, on Aug. 18, 2015. Alexei Nikolsky—AP  President Putin walks before submerging into the waters of the Black Sea inside a research bathyscaphe as part of an expedition near Sevastopol, on Aug. 18, 2015. Alexei Nikolsky—Ria Novosti/Reuters  The C-Explorer submersible in which President Putin dived to the bottom of the Black Sea, on Aug. 18\. 2015. Alexei Nikolsky—Itar-Tass/Corbis ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4001793/putin-submarine-black-sea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4001793/putin-submarine-black-sea/"},"headline":"See Vladimir Putin Ride a Minisub in the Black Sea","datePublished":"2015-08-18T17:40:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:00.662Z","description":"The Russian leader, who is on a three-day visit to recently annexed Crimea, plunged into the Black Sea inside a mini submersible known as a bathyscaphe near the port city of Sevastopol to see the wreckage of a sunken ancient merchant ship that was found in the end of May","url":"https://time.com/4001793/putin-submarine-black-sea/","keywords":["russia","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa766e9134ff13d/69885fd4cd1bbadbc56fcc77/putin-submerge-black-sea-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaa766e9134ff13d/69885fd4cd1bbadbc56fcc77/putin-submerge-black-sea-5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Putin Black Sea","caption":"Putin Black Sea","creditText":"Alexei Nikolsky—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4001793/putin-submarine-black-sea/","name":"See Vladimir Putin Ride a Minisub in the Black Sea"}}]}] ```