The torch set off on Monday from Moscow after a ceremony held in Red Square.

As part of the relay, the flame will journey to the North Pole on a nuclear-powered icebreaker, go to the bottom of Siberia's Lake Baikal - the deepest freshwater lake in the world - and climb Europe's highest summit, Mt. Elbrus.

The unlit torch will even be sent to the International Space Station, where two cosmonauts will take it on a spacewalk in November. The last part of the journey to the Black Sea Resort of Sochi will be done by deer sleigh, according to organizers.

The Sochi Games are scheduled to start on February 7.

tj/hc (AFP, AP)