again this is. the headline. the military takes charge of egypt and while the west will be the president as a democracy and its wonder just how much of an american agenda that new democracy will unfold. the faces of potentially the next american president as well as their bold plans for the country are revealed at a conservative party conference in washington. as ukraine prepared stop the next euro championships discover a traditional instrument. saying the world cup's in from the.

terms of things to do and to see the options in russia as fast as the country itself. poor infrastructure means that only extreme tourism is taking on. talks to the president of the russian geographical society about ways to improve. hello again to welcome to spotlight on r.t.i. malvern off and today my guest in the studio is shy. many russians are

unaware of their historical heritage and the natural treasures. addressing the russian geographical society prime minister putin said there are a lot of places in russia which can become popular tourist attractions but poor infrastructure could have only for tourists so what can be done to improve the situation and why has the russian emergencies minister become the president of the russian geographical society here's. the russian geographical society's one of the oldest of its kind in the world established in the meat nineteenth century it set out to research the boss regions of russia today the task has been enlarged to popularize in russian culture and the nature and environment protection the society is supported by the very top of the russian political elite its president who is also the emergencies minister with prime minister putin heading the board of trustees.

thank you for being with us today. the first thing i'd like to ask you is why the emergency is minister and everyone in russia knows you as the minister. presides over the. society. is there some sort of emergency with geography. you know first of all it's very interesting. to you personally mentioning to me personally i find it extremely interesting and the second reason is that this society probably the oldest non-governmental organization in our country. the one hundred sixty fifth anniversary last year. and other reason is that it has a remarkably interesting history agreed number over. and all standing

people if you recall the famous russian audi's picture the meeting of the state council. eighty percent of the people for trade there were members of the russian geographical society members of the russians are going to the society right . the society has reached traditions to reach our conscious and it was this is europe's largest your graphical library containing four hundred forty thousand volumes in russia yes. petersburg yes it has archives of various famous travelers like preserve. them. well in the us media hollywood has a great impact on everything. because they have this fantastic film indiana jones you've probably seen it's what they said made this profession very popular. but what about russia do russian students dream of becoming

a traveling with the media even more everyone is thinking oh you go into business. that's exactly why we have decided to address this issue in the serious manner. if you consider all the trouble or some expeditions say of the past. two centuries you will realize that we need to do our best to promote this work and not just the government. popular people to should encourage people to love their country to explore their country to explore its nature it's just nice it is aaronson kraft's. you know there are many branches in geography for example economic geography. geographical statistics and so forth i'm pretty sure you know what i'm talking about the other was to pursue i'm grateful to the people who launch such

projects is the my planet channel. personally i consider it among the best projects of the recent years as. this channel received an award recently yes and i would like to congratulate them because they're really good investment it up they're doing a good job a very good job. board of trustees and his chairman. will award grants each year and we didn't think we needed last year and this year i think will come together even more maybe april put it through the storm want tell the legibility criteria for such support and overseas candidates yes they can they're eligible if they want to receive a grant and they knew to submit an application and we have a board of very famous research travellers explorers into yog

refers and this commission where there's board and they come together and consider the plea cations that is what all those applications like i want to go to the off to can photograph a whole there's no nocturnal like that a research project could go out of course an applicant should state that purpose of their research. it's subject matter it's expected outcomes and benefits and what the end product is whether it's a documentary or air report or a paper on the expected cost perhaps naturally tradin clude expected costs because it's bundled well after the fall of the soffit union its main institutions fell apart and as far as i know many regional history you were all left without supporting this new deal even though they were a unique specialist civil i lived in the seventy's when you clearly does the geographical society help them these days given to them through the creation

of course. of course in fact recently we had a meeting of the geographical society and we invited all those infuse e.-s. who preserve theory museums i mean both theirs and their buildings and. i can give you a lot of examples for instance the commune. history has the nicest building in town which was built with donations from the russian graphical society and also from local merchants some to governor another prominent figures including by the way descendants of the n.c. decemberists but it's the nicest building in there. of course it's no longer belongs to the geographical society in houses the museum of regional history now. but they have preserved many of the traditions was thanks to those people you have

mentioned that there was these people who preserved the archive sing sing and both the archives in the organization and lead it will stalk him there used to be a museum there too. much was lost during the saudi it era and especially during the post soviet period. i think will start. the recovering in revolving all that now just a shade you're talking about history but times change don't they that previously those expeditions you talked to mt were sent off to explore and fill in the blanks polis on geographic maps and first and foremost on russia's map that it was in the middle of the nineteenth century when the worlds map wasn't complete yet what about today is what are the goals of the russian geographical decided today school. first of all our goal is to continue studying the wild nature both plants and animals of russia. this year we're running

a big program on the arctic covering such as it says in marmande protection at the economic issues they study of the foreign the wants ethnic minorities and their cultural traditions which need to be preserved. i think this is a noble goal. another goal is if you ask an average school student to d. how many ethnic groups live in our country they most probably wouldn't till you just see many more who would say i'm a most probably that. they're clever but the thing is every single group has a unique culture which goes back for centuries and it's time they possess unique candy craft skills that will summarize fellowships are granted for this purpose by the way in particular the grants we shoot in two thousand and nine and two thousand and ten. and we do value the researchers who work in this area and promote this

knowledge and they should documentaries read books. and know we are trying to revive the past traditions of the russian share graphical society that i see a good such as the scenic russia project of the nineteenth century. such things are really precious and i. not talking about money. it's about doing our people who are stand i mean i may sound a bit too magic now giving our people a solid feeling of motherland. and weirdness that this is my motherland and that's what it's like dancehall i love it and how i should presented. my order and i would put the woodpile otherwise if you don't know your mother. is due for you to love you. distribute the british well let's take a look at the history of russia's geographical exploration in

a report from spotlights healy on the demeter. here in moscow in the very heart of continental russia is a special place for seal lovers in seafarers the history of russia's navy geisha and geographical exploration is written on this wall these are the names of russia's co-op. for example they splayed here is in memory of all the key cheery cove the first european ever to set foot in southern us. the wall is part of food because you have center in moscow been there done that is what the famous russian traveler can say about places like those who the south pole and mt everest his circumnavigated the globe several times and crossed the atlantic ocean in the same role in both the spirit of adventure is something he must have inherited from january sions of russian explorers in eighty three this vessel two questions on their first ever circumnavigation of earth the expedition was headed by

a van crew's inge there who later became one of the founders of the russian geographical society which in the shaded systematic exploration of the remote parts of the country among the most famous members were nikolai mccool who mock why who lived for a one time among native tribes of southeast asia and australia studying and describing their way of life when the cooperation of all ski who discovered several previously unknown species including a wild horse named after him the soviet union promoted and encouraged exploration the russian pioneers of the arctic like to shmeat or even propounding who were the first to carry out scientific research on poor rice stations in the one nine hundred thirty s. became national heroes today of computer technologies in space travel this still appear to be places to explore an earth like the seabed of the north pool which was for the first time reached by

a group of russian scientists four years ago the spirit of adventure leads new generations to new discoveries include new hope swallow thing is waiting for new names to be written on it. time. sounds mainly for the natural resources which means that they used to bring about benefits the right to say that she stays geographers i'm more concerned about environment protection than about the exploration of natural resources. yes and that's exactly why last year we're introduced to the environmental aspect into the geographical society scope of work and by the way it was the year before and i love touring want to do it russia's very first nature reserve. nature reserve was established on the initiative all the russian geographical society says suited to the president of the russian jo graphical society spotlight will be back shortly and we'll be back in

the studio in less than a minute tops obey so stay with. the longest big game hunting history. she was trying to stall and dated. but sprung the traps they laid for him. on the radio we have the surge blogs around the. always from the always missing. one shot turn to. the global drug industry's godfather became the most want to trophy the world's bounty hunters. escobar the great hunt and are to.

download the official antti up location on the phone all i pod touch from the. life on the go. video on demand teasing blindfold costs and already feeds now in the palm of your. question on the. welcome back to spotlight i know we're not just a reminder that my guest today in the studio here is set again with the president of the russian geographical society this means that mr say you'll see in two thousand and ten the russian geographical society held the international opting for and received a global public response would become

a regular event i don't know why you planning to conduct another forum this year and what do you think about these forums practical value in general and. you know it was our first project of this guy and we did it together with the area know with steam usage in secret and it proved that this kind of dialogue using great demand fury coliforms multo was the territory of dialogue our objective was to outline and present our interests and discuss them with our neighbors in the arctic close so to say that there were delegations from sixteen nations many interesting reports were presented and this brought about the common understanding that such discussions conferences to reports expeditions and the most importantly an exchange of opinion suites one we'll known public figures and politicians including heads of states and governments are something we very much

need and so we made a decision to make it a manual event in right now we are busy preparing the next arctic forum in twenty eleven that means of russia one of your board members prime minister putin gave a speech at the last forum and he said some tough words everyone just talked a big thorough cleanup of the arctic and in the first place to get rid of the nuclear waste buried there has the work started yet did you hear the cold mist. here in russia we did and in other countries what about your colleagues. as for other countries we haven't heard of any significant or specific actions which would develop into a consistent program off cleaning up the arctic region. this is you know every country we have a located funds in the federal budget and signed contracts with companies which will work on this we project. the ministry of natural resources he's monitoring

this work and naturally we to monitor the situation to see we are we are today in the arctic. the great. projects have been planned for this year. project is work in progress it's underway we're studying the migration path sign habitats of polar bears. this project is underway and we expect it to continue. in the next you might know that we had a major expedition to see which was led by the chairman of the board by the way. position managed to achieve a lawyer for this work will be continued this year we would like to send it begin a comprehensive expedition and i think that pretty soon possibly sometime in april we'll start screening candidates. students for russia's major universities to take

part in the expedition to the new siberian islands it's a site for an incredibly interesting research in many different fields. that you cooperate closely with environmentalists you mentioned earlier that the work of protecting the environment is on your priority list because it shows that the environmentalists have raised in the lawn now seats a lot in the news about the future plans of b.p. and ross knapp's to develop an oil field in the south and part of the car a c. at the powder does this project indeed present a serious environmental threat to that region or are they just being precautious but even steve knew that of cool. insurance where i'd say they're pretty cautious because of course any such a project involves a very serious preliminary research and analysis by x. birds and security specialists. specially after that incident in the gulf of

mexico. it was a huge you know are in mental disaster. so talking of an environment protection and environmental moon. general. me. what i would call it could be the size asian often marmont protection that's a killer deal with a good thing as well what i mean is that political demands are being achieved so put it through environmental means. does this politicize ation of environment protection affect your work it seems that it does from the way you speak. don't you see it here so that environmental movements and the very idea of an environment protection get more and more involved in the division no markets. get used as a tool to prevent a company or

a nation from answering certain markets such as the hydrocarbons market. you might notice there during the discussion of c pipeline construction projects when building a gas pipeline for example the parties often resort to environmental arguments. among other things of course but the point i'm making is that when environmentalists sastre chaplain's people start throwing political slogans the truth into this it's interesting that you a politician you're a veteran minister say she is for you know one of our country's most influential politicians and yet you're against the politicize ational environment protection that. does that mean for you your posts in the government and your role in the russian geographical society a completely different things but there isn't the issue back up with c. such as family and career something like that. something like that it. is possible at all the you think no no i have to admit it and naturally i'm very grateful to my

colleagues at my main place of work for their a tremendous support including help in organizing expeditions because the ministries vast and comprehensive network of training and rescue centers as well as a great number of rescue squads are a unique resource we can use to ensure the safety and working conditions for our expeditions. that's something no other agency has i would think that's why it is quite hard to separate these two jobs and when i talked about the body says they should open my. and protection i didn't mean that my membership in a political party or my position as a minister should have no impact on what i do you at the russian geographical society god so you mean using environmental protection as political leverage. yes that's exactly what i mean. yes that's exactly what i mean.

you know it's a well known fact that there are many environmental organizations that are actually becoming less and less concerned with environment and at the same time the more and more concerned with politics. what particular organizations do you mean. how would you rather not name them because i don't want to advertise them. i would advise her people not to join those who are going to say because they are in misleading when people tell you you can't do these stories that is because it causes harm to the environment and your health. and they say this without any preliminary study or any research any examination. without engaging in japan and x. spurts and even without conducting primitive laboratory tests they would get washed

of this always puts me on my gore. should let him play even one more question if he there have been reports that the russian jew graphical society along with the into restrain will agency subliterate are going to develop ecotourism in russia but as any to. tell us more about this project do you really have such plans. your european viewers probably know that there is such a thing as a greek culture and tourism in europe. when young people go to the countryside and we want to form and they so. they harvest they take care of animals well in russia that would need stream tourism or other. variety of eco tourism. but in our country it's much more interesting.

because we have the world's biggest a reserve war all freshwater in the lake baikal. so why not send an expedition there. to help preserve the lake. and at the same time explored with what might harm it. or for example sure we can arrange environmental expeditions to some endangered polices. so that people can not only see some things that there was some exotic places for example with their own eyes and at the same time. they would be able to longer people would balk them tell people what is being done to make sure that their industrial facilities pollute the environment so

i think it's a promising project. thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was sygate president of the russian joe graphical society and that's it for from all of us here back with more comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take it. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from the realms. we've got the future covered.

and the. wealthy british style.