MOSCOW, May 31 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Geographical Society will launch its own television channel, Moscow Regional Governor Sergei Shoigu, who is also the Society’s president, said.
“My Planet” will become the Russian Geographical Society’s channel and will bear its logo from the middle of June. “We have already approved it,” Shoigu said at the signing ceremony for an agreement on cooperation between the Russian Geographical Society and the government of Vologda region on Wednesday, May 30.
He suggested to Vologda Region Governor Oleg Kuvshinnikov that a film about the region should be made.
Shoigu recalled that the Vologda division of the Russian Geographical Society has won a grant. “The result should be a film on regional and federal channels, as a minimum,” he added.
“The present generation of people in Russia should be shown one more time how our ancestors lived and what they did. The Russian Geographical Society’s Trusteeship Council will hold a traveling session in the autumn and we are already working on its contents,” Shoigu said.
Kuvshinnikov promised to help promote projects of the Russian Geographical Society’s branch in the region. “We have 150 natural monuments alone in the region, plus big and unique wildlife sanctuaries, monasteries, churches, and lakes. We will develop new tourist routes, too,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin said earlier that he Russian Geographical Society could help form competitive tourist market in the country.
He believes that the Russian Geographical Society can “fill it with proper content, offer interesting routes and select original sites” because it has “unique collections, an archive of almost a million documents and a broad network of regional divisions”.
“The Russian Geographical Society has all reasons to become an intellectual leader in studying and promoting national geography and encourage scientific creativity not only in the academia but also at the grassroots level,” he said.
Putin said the Russian Geographical Society should help promote Russia' s historical, cultural and geographical heritage.
He expressed hope that the Society would become play an active role in implementing the concept of the development of especially protected natural territories in the country.
“The Russian Geographical Society is called upon to assume a great deal of responsibility for fostering an attitude of care for nature and bringing up an environmental consciousness in the country,” Putin said.
The Russian Geographical Society is one of the world's oldest geographical societies, going back to 1845 (It used to be called Imperial Russian Geographical Society before the 1917 revolution, then the State Geographical Society in 1926 - 1938 and the Russian Geographical Society in 1991.