Berlin police search lake for artist

Police are searching a lake and its surroundings for a Russian artist who disappeared from her Berlin home a week ago.

Spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said five divers were combing a lake near Anna Mikhalchuk's home and more than 80 officers with sniffing dogs were searching Friday for her in gardens and along train tracks.

Mikhalchuk, 52, also known in Russia under the name of Anna Alchuk, left her apartment on March 21 and has not been seen since. She moved to Berlin with her husband Michail Ryklin in November 2007.

In 2005, she was acquitted by a Moscow court on charges of inciting religious hatred for her works in a controversial art exhibit condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church.