State Lays Claim to Academic Society

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s passion for geography was on full display Wednesday as he became head of the Russian Geographical Society’s board of trustees, a day after Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu unexpectedly became the group’s president.

The shakeup at the St. Petersburg-based society, which bills itself as Russia’s oldest organization, has ruffled feathers in the group. Some members suggested Wednesday that the government’s sudden interest could be linked to the society’s extensive property holdings or a desire to use its prestigious name to lend credibility to state-backed projects.

Tsar Nicholas I created the Russian Geographical Society in 1845 as part of the imperial drive for geographical expansion and exploration of the country’s natural resources. The society is headquartered in a historic mansion in central St. Petersburg that includes various explorers’ archives and a library.

The society has some 20,000 members in 127 branches across Russia.

Shoigu was voted in as president following the sudden departure of Anatoly Komaritsyn, a retired naval admiral, on Oct. 15. The society called an emergency congress to hold the vote and Shoigu, the only candidate, was approved, as were changes to the charter.

Putin, who is often cited for calling the breakup of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century, made heavy use of Russia’s imperial legacy in his address to the society’s congress.

“When we say great, a great country, a great state — certainly, size matters. … When there is no size, there is no influence, no meaning,” Putin said, praising the society for its early work in territorial exploration and its potential to help in the future.

“The society can offer practical support to our plans to develop Eastern Siberia and the Far East, Yamal and the north of Krasnoyarsk region, to participate actively in further research projects in the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as environmental support of the Olympic Games in Sochi,” Putin said.

Ironically, the Sochi branch of the society has been vocal against the reforms. The branch composed a letter expressing its concerns, including that the new president should be chosen democratically and according to the organization’s rules.

Vyacheslav Isayev, a member of the society’s branch in Sochi, was supposed to read the letter during the congress but “was asked not to by people in Moscow,” he said by telephone on Wednesday evening.

The new president, the charter, and the creation of the board of trustees were all introduced in the past month, Isayev said.

The charter, passed Tuesday, centralizes power in the organization, and “significantly inhibits the rights of regional branches of the society and their independence,” the Sochi branch wrote in its letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times.

Shoigu, who has led the Emergency Situations Ministry and its predecessor since 1991, also had plenty of plans for the organization.

“Soon we want to, if not establish, then to support, purchase a magazine, which I will not name for the time being,” Shoigu said. “It’s a rather well-known brand that has existed in our country for a long time,” he told the congress Tuesday.

The society may also help create a new television channel to popularize Russia and itself, Shoigu said, adding that the state VGTRK media holding, which owns Rossia television, has already proposed providing airtime to the society.

Additionally, the society may participate in the program to cut down the number of time zones in Russia, “if ordered to do so.” President Dmitry Medvedev made reducing Russia’s 11 time zones a goal during his state-of-the-nation address last week.

Putin promised 50 million rubles ($1.7 million) to fund up to 10 grants distributed for the organization’s research, promising to “do everything to help your work.”

Nobody at the head office or the Moscow office was able to comment on changes Wednesday. A member of its scientific council, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, told The Moscow Times that rumors about Putin’s and Shoigu’s involvement had been circulating since this summer.

The source said there had been talk that it could be reformed as a department within the Emergency Situations Ministry.

Shoigu’s involvement appeared to run counter to Medvedev’s recent decision to ban top government and Kremlin officials from serving as presidents of sports organizations. He said last month that such bodies needed full-time leaders dedicated to the organizations.

The society’s role has dwindled over the past 20 years, as its research and publishing activities have all but ceased, said Alexander Drozdov, a society member and a researcher at the Geographic Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

While the society received budget funding in the Soviet era, it was mostly left on its own after 1990, he said.

“The present change is an initiative from above, and everything happened very quickly,” Drozdov said. While 50 million rubles for research sounds nice, it is not clear who will get the money, while the “enormous” financial support to some expeditions are “just window dressing,” he said.

Drozdov cited a 2007 submarine trip to the North Pole, where an expedition led by State Duma Deputy Artur Chilingarov planted a Russian flag 4,261 meters beneath the surface. Then-President Putin later congratulated the team, calling the move an important step in Russia’s exploration for natural resources in the Arctic.

Putin made headlines with a submarine trip of his own this summer. On Aug. 1, he traveled to the bottom of Lake Baikal with scientists to examine possible environmental damage from a pulp and paper plant.

On returning to the surface, Putin said he and the scientists had concluded that the lake was clean.