Chairman of the RGS Board of Trustees Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has headed the newly created Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society since 2010. The Board revived the longstanding traditions of patronage of arts and established grants of the Society, within which many important research, environmental and expeditionary projects are carried out. The Board includes prominent public figures and business representatives.
Vladimir Putin: "The support of trustees allows us to implement hundreds of events throughout our vast country and, most importantly, to unite people around truly important, useful things aimed at preserving our natural heritage, our history and traditions of the peoples of the Russian Federation."
Vladimir Putin pays special attention to the programs of the RGS for the conservation and study of rare species of animals. Among them are wild cats - Amur tiger, Far Eastern leopard, snow leopard, lynx and manul, as well as representatives of the Arctic wildlife - beluga, polar bear and walrus.
For example, in 2013, at the initiative of Vladimir Putin, the Society became the founder of the autonomous non-profit organization “Amur Tiger Center”. The organization focuses on the fight against poaching, it conducts scientific analysis of the state of the Amur tiger population and ecosystems in the animal habitat, and the organization of educational and awareness activities.
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Another important project, in the opinion of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the RGS, is the development of ecological, cultural and educational tourism in Russia. Currently, the RGS is developing a system of voluntary certification of tourist routes. Tours, involved in it, will receive a certificate of conformity and the sign "Recommended by the RGS".
Vladimir Putin: “Of course, the presence of appropriate infrastructure plays an important role in attracting tourists, but good hotels and transport accessibility cannot compensate the lack of bright and thoughtful routes. I am convinced that not only professionals should be involved in creation of the domestic tourist product content, but also people who know our country well and love it, and, at this point, the Russian Geographical Society certainly has much to offer. I suppose, there are no such an extensive database of the natural wealth of our country, folk traditions, monuments in any other organization or a single department."
In 2011, with the support of the Board of Trustees of the RGS, chaired by Vladimir Putin, the Society has got the former revenue house of the Moscow Merchant Society for free use (Novaya Ploshad, 10, building 2). There, in particular, is the library, which also began to be completed thanks to personal collections donated to the Society by the trustees of the RGS. Among them are Chairman of the RGS Board of Trustees Vladimir Putin, President of the RGS Sergei Shoigu, Chairman of the Media Council Dmitry Peskov, members of the RGS Board of Trustees Alexander Abramov, Andrei Bokarev, Yury Vorobyev, Gennady Timchenko, Alisher Usmanov and others.
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Vladimir Putin: "Active, not indifferent participation in the fate of Russia has always been one of the main features of the RGS. And it is important that the organization continues to gather around itself purposeful, selfless people, who literally expand the boundaries of knowledge, present history, culture, traditions, natural wealth of Russia for millions of people."