Lada Niva goes WAY off-road

If the Russian navy ever runs out of resources completely, perhaps it can retrofit a fleet of Lada Niva 4x4s to serve as a last-ditch coastal defense force. I mean, if a bunch of regular guys can jury rig one to run fully submerged, we're sure the military could gin up some kind of armed variant. Short of that, however, we think we're sold on the apparent toughness of the Niva. Stripped of extraneous interior trim, instruments, and other accessories, the white example shown here was fitted with a homebuilt snorkel system and driven into, under, and out of a lake's murky waters. Why? Who cares? This looks like fun, which is reason enough as far as we're concerned. Follow the jump for video of the whole crazy thing.

[Sources: ZR.ru (via Fresh Pics via Reddit), YouTube]