Durban:
Russia is planning to send the Olympic flame into space ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the deputy Prime Minister said.
Alexander Zhukov said at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in South Africa Thursday that Russia aims to be the first country to take the flame into space as part of the longest-ever Olympic torch relay, Xinhua reported.
Zhukov said Sochi organisers also plan to take the torch to the top of Russia's highest mountain and the bottom of the world's deepest lake.
The Olympic flame would go on a 120-day, 28,000-km journey with 14,000 torch bearers in the leadup to the Sochi games.