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UFO Sightings Reported Near Russia's Lake Baikal

A view of Russia's Lake Baikal Inna Kiyasova / MT

People in cities and towns near Siberia's Lake Baikal have reported seeing a mysterious bright object flying slowly through the sky, and posted videos and photos online to corroborate their accounts, Russian news reports said Wednesday.

The reports of ?€?UFO?€? sightings poured in from scores of people in the Irkutsk region, near Lake Baikal, the local branch of the state-run Rossia-1 television network reported.

The object resembled a meteorite, but seemed much brighter and was moving too slowly, witnesses were quoted as saying.

Sergei Yazev, a senior research scientist from the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics who watched the videos, said the ?€?slow velocity is extremely uncharacteristic for a comet or a bolide,?€? the Dni.ru news portal reported.

?€?Even if we concede that it could have been a spent rocket stage, then the speed with which it falls would still be many times greater,?€? Yazev was quoted as saying.

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