BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Leonardo DiCaprio: Russians beg star to #SaveBaikal

  • Published
    22 July 2019
Share page
About sharing
Leonardo DiCaprio waving, behind him is a treeImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio is also an environmental activist

ByTom Gerken & Francis Scarr
BBC News & BBC Monitoring

Fans of Leonardo DiCaprio might be justly confused after reading the comments on his Instagram account.

The star's social media pages have been overrun by thousands of comments in Cyrillic text urging the star to "do his part for Lake Baikal".

Baikal is a vast lake in Russia which the World Wildlife Fund says, external is under threat from pollution and poaching.

The Hollywood A-lister's Instagram account now makes for interesting reading, with people bombarding his posts in Russian asking "Levushka" (a Russian variant of Leonardo) for help:

Leonardo DiCaprio's Instagram page. There are several comments in Russian using the Cyrillic alphabetImage source, Leonardodicaprio/Instagram
Image caption,

The top comment on many Leonardo DiCaprio Instagram posts is the 'Save Baikal' hashtag in both Russian and English

The bottom comment translated: "Levushka! Save our Baikal! We ask you this fraternally on behalf of all of Russia."

Mr DiCaprio seems to have been targeted due to his history of environmentalism, as he regularly makes social media posts about climate.

He founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, and told the BBC in 2016 that he believed climate change was the biggest issue facing young people today.

The actor may also have been targeted as he told a magazine in 2012 that his grandmother was Russian, leading some to urge him to "remember your grandma" and intervene in the crisis.

It appears that the call to target the actor was started by a popular account which shares news about Russian city Ulan-Ude, located near Lake Baikal:

This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Instagram
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip instagram post by ves_ulan_ude_

Allow Instagram content?

This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of instagram post by ves_ulan_ude_

"Let's all write to Leonardo DiCaprio about Baikal's problems," the post proclaims. "He's a famous eco warrior and media personality.

"Compatriots, support the movement. Baikal is our everything.

"Comment on DiCaprio's posts in Russian and English and don't forget to include the hashtags Save Baikal (#спастибайкал) and Baikal is ours (#байкалнаш)."

It has sparked thousands of comments across the star's social media pages.

  • Russia's #metoo: Women say they 'need public attention'

  • Pink defends Holocaust memorial photo after criticism

  • Firework drone video was 'fake news' says Instagram star

"Soon there'll be nowhere for the Titanic to sail," joked one person in the comments, with another adding: "If Titanic had been filmed on Baikal, you wouldn't have sunk!"

Others have urged Mr DiCaprio to see Russia's "environmental chaos", with one person comparing it to "living on a powder keg".

And some have reverted to an age-old joke - promising to buy the Hollywood star another Oscar in exchange for his help.

A post on Leonardo DiCaprio's Instagram page. The comments are in Russian.Image source, Leonardodicaprio/Instagram
Image caption,

Lazzy_Shark: "If Leo saves Baikal, the whole of Russia will chip in to get him an Oscar". Sergeyplotnikov: "He's already got one!"

More on this story

  • 'Abuse and harassment' in Russia evokes #metoo

    • Published
      18 July 2019
    A woman with her back to camera holds a sign, with text in Russian.
  • Pink defends Holocaust memorial photo

    • Published
      15 July 2019
    Pink sits in a chair with her daughter sat on her lap
  • Firework drone video 'false news' says creator

    • Published
      19 July 2019
    A drone in the air apparently shooting a firework

Top stories

  • Jenrick defends comment on not seeing 'another white face' in Handsworth

    • Published
      51 minutes ago
  • Live. 

    Israel marks 7 October attacks anniversary as Starmer tells students to avoid 'un-British' protests

    • 5440 viewing5.4k viewing
  • Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing

    • Published
      14 minutes ago

More to explore

  • I was fooled into paying £500 to be a model. Here's how to avoid my mistake

    Older woman with short blonde hair wearing a red top and white trousers posing for a photoshoot
  • Jeremy Bowen: Two years on, will Israel and Hamas seize the chance to end the war?

    Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes targeted residential areas in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel near the border, on October 07, 2025
  • Rare October Harvest Moon rising Tuesday marks first supermoon of 2025

    • Attribution
      Weather
    A close up picture of a full moon on a black night sky
  • 'I deeply hurt people by moving to Saudi Arabia'

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Ashleigh Plumptre
  • Yet another French PM resigns, spelling yet more trouble for Macron

    A headshot of Macron looking serious
  • The footballer who cycles to work after being inspired by Wenger

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Arsene Wenger and Hector Bellerin
  • One iPhone led police to gang suspected of sending up to 40,000 stolen UK phones to China

    A CCTV image showing a black moped being driven along a pavement by two people wearing all black, snatching a mobile phone from a pedestrian walking along the pavement. One of the people on the moped can be seen holding the phone in their hand moments after snatching it, as the pedestrian recoils.
  • Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper

    Brightly coloured composite image featuring red, green and yellow. There are two young women, their backs to the camera, wheeling small suitcases on the left - and a photo of a plate of spaghetti with bright red tomato sauce on the right.
  • News Daily: Our flagship daily newsletter delivered to your inbox first thing, with all the latest headlines

    A promo promoting the News Daily newsletter - a graphic of an orange sphere with two concentric crescent shapes around it in a red-orange gradient, like a sound wave.
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Jenrick defends comment on not seeing 'another white face' in Handsworth

  2. 2

    Physics Nobel awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing

  3. 3

    Man guilty of stalking TV presenter Myleene Klass

  4. 4

    One iPhone led police to gang suspected of sending up to 40,000 stolen UK phones to China

  5. 5

    Pharmacies facing angry patients over Covid jab confusion

  6. 6

    Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper

  7. 7

    Thieves snatch Bronze Age gold in four-minute museum heist

  8. 8

    More holidaymakers using AI to plan trips

  9. 9

    Dwayne Johnson is philosophical over his film flop for The Smashing Machine

  10. 10

    Philpott accomplice who killed six in fire dies

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • The Bafta-winning Belfast police drama returns

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    Blue Lights has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    Blue Lights
  • Andy Zaltzman dissects the week's news

    • Attribution
      Sounds

    Added to My Sounds
    The News Quiz has been added to your My Sounds.
  • Exposing a disturbing scam targeting teenage boys

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    Blackmailed: The Sextortion Killers has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    Blackmailed: The Sextortion Killers
  • The foods that could help you live to 100

    • Attribution
      Sounds

    Added to My Sounds
    The Food Chain has been added to your My Sounds.
    The Food Chain
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.