"Do you have a crowbar?" - asks Victor Boyarsky, honorary polar explorer of Russia. Crowbar is needed to eliminate the sign "Sorry, director at the North Pole" from the office door in the St. Petersburg Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic - the only one in the country. Since February, Boyarsky is no longer the director of the museum: Roshydromet did not renew his contract; according to the polar explorer himself - out of revenge. A couple of years lasted a confrontation between him and the new leadership of the structure. Roshydromet was in favor of moving the museum to Vasilevsky Island - and, accordingly, the release of the building on Marat, the former St. Nicholas Church of the same faith, in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church. Boyarsky resisted.
The Village met with the former director of the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic to find out how the story developed with his dismissal, what will happen to the stuffed polar bears Masha and Artur now, and when the modern branch on the icebreaker in Kronstadt will open.
Photos
Vasily Ionga
- Let's first clarify what is happening now. As far as I understand, January 31 was your last working day at the museum?
There is a routine procedure associated with the non-renewal of the contract by the founder - according to the law, he has the right to do this without explaining the reasons. However, they are obvious. For the past two years, I have had a disagreement with Roshydromet on the fate of the museum. Roshydromet believes that the museum should be relocated to Vasilyevsky Island - under the pretext of vacating the building on Marat for a church. And we stand on the fact that the building cannot be touched.
- Do you continue to go to work?
I am now the deputy director of the museum for public relations, I will continue to go to work.
- Is this an official position?
Yes. And even if there was no deputy vacancy, I would still go to the museum. Nobody forbids me to be here - to do the same work, only without a salary and a contract.
The non-renewal of my contract will not affect the activities of the museum in any way: in any case, the plans for the move will not be implemented. Roshydromet is now even more distant from this than when the story began, there is simply no money to move. As for everything else… in the process of confrontation, Roshydromet filed several lawsuits against me. As a result, the Vyborgsky District Court is considering a civil case on my causing damage - in the form of lost profits - to the museum. One million two hundred thousand rubles.
How was this amount calculated?
We have to go back 20 years to understand what we are talking about. To begin with, let me explain that I, like many other employees, come from the Arctic Institute (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the oldest research institution in Russia, conducting a comprehensive study of the polar regions of the Earth. - Approx. ed.). In 1991, my colleagues and I created a company to organize tourist expeditions to the North Pole. And we decided to support the Museum of the Arctic at the expense of this company. The museum was then in the corral, there was no money. For seven years, we actually maintained the museum and at the same time sought to get it the status of a state museum (at that time it was just a department of the Arctic Institute). In 1998 the museum became a state museum.
Our company continued to cooperate with the museum until recent years (now the funding has more or less gone). There would be no this company, and the museum would not exist now - we would all be sitting in a different place, and here we would sing songs in chorus.
I found it a good combination - in fact, a public-private partnership: if the museum did not have enough funds, I could write a conditional letter to myself asking me to transfer money to the museum. The company paid for the acquisition of new exhibits, equipment, communications - everything.
All this was known to the founder (Roshydromet. - Approx. ed.). But when in 2014 the fuss with this building began for the first time and at the meeting I immediately declared that the museum would not go anywhere, some processes began against the museum. For example, an unscheduled inspection took place: nothing serious was found, but we decided to turn to the topic of registration of our company. The fact is that since 2008 the legal address of the company is here, on Marat. They began to question me on what grounds. The reasons are simple: if the management and employees of the company, who are also employees of the museum, are here - why not give the same address?
As a result, I was accused of renting 19 square meters to my company - instead of renting them at market prices to some firm for the preparation of horns and hooves. But the museum, in principle, cannot rent anything, we have no space! If there were, we would use them, for example, for expositions. The same parish was finally allowed in: when they asked us for 300 meters, we refused, because there was no space.
So, Roshydromet filed a lawsuit, hired some company that, without going into the museum, virtually calculated its losses for three years - at market rental prices in Central region... Hence 1,200,000 rubles. The absurdity of the claim is obvious, but since May 2015 - the moment of filing - the case on the merits has never been heard. Nevertheless, the new deputy head of Roshydromet, Mr. Yakovenko - with whom we have never even met - gives interviews in which he states that I have two criminal cases. This is not a criminal, but a civil case, and not two, but one. If the case had been heard on the merits, it would have been closed long ago, since under our legislation the employer is not entitled to recover lost profits from the employee. Only direct damages are recoverable. This is the main position of our defense.
To say that we caused damage to the museum by our actions is absurd. All our activities were dedicated to preserving the museum. We are at the top in terms of production indicators, we overfulfill everything: in the top thirty best museums cities, attendance is growing by 5-6 thousand every year.
- Will there be a competition for the vacancy of a new director of the museum?
No. Roshydromet was so eager to receive budget money for the museum's relocation that in its zeal it was ahead of even the Russian Orthodox Church. But now Yakovenko began to say that there were no plans to move the museum - he got his bearings in the situation and realized that this was unrealistic.
I was offered to resign in the 14th year, I refused. They lasted until the expiration of the contract and with great pleasure did not renew it. But since a big wave of support has risen - and rather high-ranking people have spoken out there too ... I don’t know how it will end. All my efforts are now aimed at transferring the museum from the jurisdiction of Roshydromet to the Ministry of Culture - as a specialized one.
- Any progress?
Almost everything was ready, and even the head of Roshydromet promised that he would give the museum to the Ministry of Culture. And on January 15, Roshydromet suddenly fell in love with the museum, declared that they needed it, they were going to reform and develop it, so they would not transfer it to the Ministry of Culture. But I really hope that, given the difficult situation with the budget, they will still pass it on.
- In 2008, the magazine "Sobaka" published an interview with you - about your travel company ...
Yes, we are talking about the Vikaar company - it appeared in 1991, and it supported the museum.
- Does it exist now?
Yes, but I'm no longer a director or owner. Since Roshydromet was so eager to complete its work that it issued an order equating directors with civil servants who are prohibited from engaging in commercial activities.
- I mean, what follows from the interview: there were serious people among Vikaar's clients - the Duma elite, Vekselberg and others. They could not influence the situation?
As I said, high-ranking people spoke out in support of us. But the presence of a civil case, which Mr. Yakovenko considers a criminal one, allows for great manipulation. Imagine: people are told that I have two criminal cases. They start to think.
- Do I understand correctly that the building of the museum is no longer interesting for the community of the same faith?
They were given 160 square meters - and it was the museum that helped solve this problem. In 2013, the Federal Property Management Agency rejected the ROC's first application, stating that there was no other suitable building for the museum in the city. I said: "For the museum, no - but for these 30 people (Edinoverie community. - Approx. ed.) find at least 100 meters of non-residential stock. They are able to support and conduct services. As a result, they vacated the premises nearby - there was a Medtekhnika store, which, by the way, was quite nice. 160 meters were given to these guys. They equipped it in two years. The abbot came and complained that he was unable to pay the communal apartment. I say: “But how are you, Pyotr Alexandrovich, going to pay a communal apartment, occupying this building?”
- Do you communicate with him, it turns out?
Of course, it's been 20 years.
- Unlike Roshydromet.
About Roshydromet, you need to understand that new people have come there. They don't know where the Arctic and Antarctic are. We have never been to the museum, they call it "the warehouse of dusty penguins." We have been to St. Petersburg many times - but they cannot enter the museum. All museum meetings are held in the diocese. I am not invited. And after that they say that they need a museum. Guys! No need to be hypocritical. We do not ask for anything, we will deal with the Church ourselves - I have been dealing with this problem for 20 years.
Until 2014, the leadership of Roshydromet and I lived in perfect harmony: a normal secular organization that understands that the museum is unique, the only one in the country. And these same ones came, immediately - bang: "Oh, believers, 30 people, how are they, the poor." The fact that we have 70 thousand people a year, 40% of them are children, does not bother them. Some disgusting hypocrisy.
Moving the museum is not possible. For example, dioramas are untransportable. The exposition has existed here for 80 years. I will not say that it is modern - and it is not necessary. This museum has the right to be what it is. The aura of those years - the 1950s-1960s, when we were really present in the Arctic - he conveys. We carefully, evolutionarily change something, without introducing dissonances. The main thing that people like is not only us. I haven't seen any negative feedback.
- But it's not strange for you to be in such - after all, obviously church - walls?
Strange. But history has decreed so. In the 1930s, when the building was empty, at the request of the Arctic Institute, it was transferred to the museum. It was overhauled, the stairs were made. We are satisfied with the size and location: the fact that the museum is within walking distance of three metro lines is a big plus. I'm not saying that it is not necessary to develop, it is necessary - at the expense of branches. And this site must be preserved and abandoned.
- And what about the idea of creating a museum center in Kronstadt - on the basis of the Arktika icebreaker, which is now in Murmansk?
This story took an unexpected turn. We thought that everything would be postponed until 2021, but suddenly we opened financing for the project in 2016, and now we are doing some work with Rosatom.
- When will the branch open?
Hard to say. The dismantling of the reactor alone will take a year and a half. Then there must be a daredevil who will take the maintenance of the museum center under his own responsibility. We are talking about deploying an exposition there that meets modern requirements - interactive, multimedia. It will be very cool. There will be no stuffed animals, "dusty penguins". The museum will receive two sites. Here it will be possible to fix the period from historical times to the middle of the 20th century, and in Kronstadt everything is new.
- By the way, about stuffed animals. I have long been tormented by the question of the origin of polar bears in the museum.
I don’t know where Masha the bear came from, she was here before me, 30-40 years already. Even when Masha was at the Arctic Institute, she was dragged to all demonstrations and parades, ahead of the column of polar explorers. And when she appeared - in the rain, under the snow on Palace Square - the leadership of the party and government understood that worthy people were following Masha. And shouted: "Glory to the Soviet polar explorers!" Then Masha got up here, since 1995 I didn’t let her out on the street, because she was in poor condition. In the 2000s, I kept looking for her partner, so that Masha would not be bored. And in the end, we got a poacher detained with a polar bear skin in Norilsk. Made to order, most likely. The poacher was probably imprisoned, and the skin was handed over to us - I named this bear Artur, in honor of our Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov.
- And what can you say about the story with the bear and the explosive package?
(At the end of December 2015, footage appeared on the Internet, showing how workers on Wrangel Island throw an explosive package at the polar bear they had previously fed. The animal dies in agony. - Approx. ed.)
Now there is a lot of talk about returning to the Arctic. They return, yes, but at the same time, elementary long-term traditions are violated, which, for example, assumed quite specific instructions on what can and cannot be done. People get there with majet gadgets and no idea where they are. The first commandment is no bear feeding. As soon as the bear appears, it must be driven away from the station as far as possible. Idiots feed, and then they are offended that the bear has a disposition for them. He approached, ran - they got scared and threw an explosive package. Knowing that the bear will eat him. I was so sorry that there was no bear next to that bear! Unfortunately, bears do not live in pairs - otherwise a “husband” would come and beat this brigade.
- The final question. In a recent interview with Meduza, you said that you got out of more difficult situations than the whole story with your dismissal. What were those situations?
I do not see anything complicated in this situation. Stupidity, of course, causes disappointment - but it is not fatal. A “difficult situation” is when there is a threat to life. Imagine, someone got sick - but is it possible to compare the disease with this garbage? Well, think about it - not a director. It's not the end of life. For 20 years, a team of like-minded people has gathered here, even if I am not formally a director, what we were doing and what we were striving for will continue.
Expeditions
Greenland expedition
In 1988, Viktor Boyarsky, as part of an international expedition led by Will Steeger, crossed Greenland from south to north, covering more than 2,000 km in 65 days. The Greenland expedition was organized as a training session before the Transantarctic expedition. The path was covered by dog sleds and skis.
Expedition members
- Will Steeger (USA)
- Jean-Louis Etienne (France)
- Jeff Somers (UK)
- Keizo Funatsu (Japan)
- Chin Daho (China)
- Victor Boyarsky (USSR)
Transantarctic
In 1989-1990 Victor Boyarsky was a member of the international expedition "Transantarctic". Not just a participant, but its leader. Passing over them almost every day when flying from st. "Mirny Observatory" to the Vostok station and back, we saw from the cockpit of our expeditionary IL-14 that it was Victor (the dimensions and clothes of Victor cannot be confused) who was on skis and with a navigator on his chest, and not in wagons, ahead of all the participants, including very smart and hardy dogs.
Bibliography
- Seven months of infinity
- Greenland meridian
- Each of us has a pole
- N.W.T. Three Journeys in the Canadian Arctic
- Creation of Ellesmere.
Awards
Links
Notes
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See what "Boyarsky, Viktor Ilyich" is in other dictionaries:
Director of the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic since 1998; was born on September 16, 1950 in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region; Graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) in the specialty ... ... Big biographical encyclopedia
Wikipedia has articles on other people with this last name, see Gordon. Dmitry Gordon Dmitry Ilyich Gordon ... Wikipedia
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Books
- Greenland Meridian, Victor Boyarsky. Viktor Ilyich Boyarsky is a legendary Russian polar explorer. In 1987 he was chosen as the representative of the USSR in the largest international expedition "Transantarctic". This expedition…
Famous Russian polar explorer, honorary polar explorer of Russia, chairman of the Polar Commission of the Russian Geographical Society, member of the National Geographic Society of the United States, full member of the National Academy of Tourism and the International Academy of Refrigeration, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, member of the Writers' Union of Russia.
After graduating in 1973 from the radio engineering faculty of the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute named after. V.I. Ulyanova (Lenina) worked as a researcher at the Department of Ice and Ocean Physics of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, dealing with the problem of radar sounding of snow and ice covers in the Arctic and Antarctic. In the period from 1973 to 1987 he took part in the work of scientific teams four Soviet Antarctic expeditions, including pioneering work to study the possibility of creating an ice neutrino detector at the Vostok inland station, spent the winter at the North Pole-24 drifting station, studying the problem of remote thickness measurement sea ice, participated in the work of radiophysical detachments as part of the high-latitude scientific expeditions "North".
In 1987, V. Boyarsky was included from the USSR in the International Expedition "Transantarctic", timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty - an international agreement signed by 12 states (including the USSR) and which determined the status of Antarctica as a continent of peace and cooperation . During the preparation of the expedition in 1988, an international team, which, in addition to V. Boyarsky, included representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France and China, crossed the island of Greenland from south to north on skis and dog sledding, overcoming a route of more than 2000 km in 65 days. V. Boyarsky became the first Russian to cross Greenland on skis. This expedition - the second ever crossing of the world's largest island along the meridian - became the prologue of the historical international expedition "Transantarctic", in which V. Boyarsky represented Leningrad and the Soviet Union. For 221 days from July 1989 to March 1990, six members of the expedition, moving on skis and dog sleds, for the first time in the history of the exploration of Antarctica, crossed the ice continent along the longest route and covered 6500 km without the use of mechanical means. Most of the route V. Boyarsky walked ahead. The expedition "Transantarctic" and its participants are included in the Guinness Book of Records. In March - June 1990, the expedition members were received by the presidents of France, the USA, China and the prime ministers of Japan and the USSR.
In 1992-1994, V. Boyarsky, together with the American W. Steeger, conducted three expeditions in the Canadian Arctic to prepare an international expedition from Russia to Canada via the North Pole as part of the International Arctic Project. The expedition, called "Double Pole - 95", took place from March to July 1995. For four months, the expedition members, among whom, in addition to V. Boyarsky and W. Steeger, were representatives of Great Britain, Denmark and Japan, covered more than 2000 km from the shores of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago to the shores of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
Since 1994, V. Boyarsky has been leading and coordinating the efforts of the polar community aimed at preserving the only Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in the country and one of the largest in Europe, which was threatened with eviction from the building of the former church of the same faith occupied by him since the foundation, which would inevitably lead to actual destruction of the unique exposition. These efforts culminated in the revival of the museum in 1998 in the new status of the Russian State Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic. V. Boyarsky becomes its first director. In the period from 1997 to 2013, he organized and led more than 25 ski expeditions to the North Pole, led 30 expeditions as an expedition leader nuclear icebreakers to the North Pole. In 1999, he led the St. Petersburg team that planted the city's flag at the North Pole. During this time, V. Boyarsky visited the North Pole more than 60 times and in 2007 he was awarded the title "The most polar Petersburger."
Since 1994, V. Boyarsky has been the head of the Polar Commission of the Russian Geographical Society. In the period from 1991 to 2010, V. Boyarsky wrote and published five books: "Seven Months of Infinity", "Greenland Meridian", a collection of poems "Each of us has our own Pole", "Three journeys through the Canadian Arctic" and "The Creation of Ellesmere ". Since 2005, V. Boyarsky, together with the expeditionary center of the Russian Geographical Society "Polus", has been participating in the implementation of the international project "Barneo", within the framework of which an ice airfield and a field camp are annually built in the North Pole region to implement programs extreme tourism and scientific observations carried out by both domestic and foreign scientists.
In September 2002, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, V. Boyarsky was awarded a medal for the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. For his contribution to the development of polar science in 2008, V. Boyarsky was awarded the Order of B. Vilkitsky and the sign “Honorary Worker of the Hydrometeorological Service”.
Viktor Boyarsky was very fond of the stories of Jack London as a child, and now he could easily pass for one of his heroes. For several years now, Boyarsky has been a co-owner of a unique business. He helps tourists "conquer" the North Pole. In total, he managed to visit the top of the Earth more than 60 times, going for wintering 3-4 times a year, and knows many of the secrets of this unique place better than others.
- Viktor Ilyich, so what kind of place is this - the North Pole?
Very interesting place! On the one hand, just a point on the ice of the ocean, around which for all 360 degrees - the continuous South. Moreover, the pole is not static, but constantly moving and is determined only by instruments. Time loses its meaning here, the sun shines without ceasing from March to September. You live as if in one dimension with the entire planet.
Have you been organizing for a long time? tourist excursions. Take tourists to "stand" at the North Pole. How are the expeditions going?
Now I make 3-4 expeditions a year with people who dream of visiting the North Pole. For many, it still remains something magical. And then suddenly there is an opportunity to be in this place. Impressions, of course, remain a lot. There are expeditions on skis and on an icebreaker. In April, tourists come to us by plane. We organize ski excursions for them - from 250 kilometers to 5-10 kilometers - to the North Pole. The most extreme hike can last more than 2 weeks with all the obligatory delights - spending the night in a tent and cooking breakfast on a stove. And in the summer we rent an icebreaker. You can also skydive or scuba dive. You will not see any fauna in the Arctic Ocean, but caves and grottoes under the ice are also something fantastic.
- How do newcomers from city apartments feel among the ice and snow?
In different ways, although in principle they all have a hard time. When minus 35 is considered the most comfortable temperature here, it’s not a shame to burst into tears. You can’t get used to the cold completely, it discourages a person from thinking or walking. But after all the trials, people experience tremendous satisfaction. You proved to everyone and to yourself that you are not afraid of such difficulties. They rejoice like children! At the same time, we have a real camp there: arrival by helicopter, warm tents, three meals a day. So the question of heroic survival in wild nature not worth it. My 78-year-old grandmothers also reached the pole.
- By the way, do women and men endure northern hardships equally?
It is understood that the Arctic and Antarctic are not for women after all. I once thought so too, but now I think that they are much better adapted to such difficult conditions. In 1995, two women were with us on the expedition - an American and a Japanese. So, they passed the route no worse, and in many ways even better than some young men.
Does harsh climate change people? What qualities should a real polar explorer have?
How a person was formed, so he comes there. If he's good here, he'll be good there. If it's bad, then it's even worse. Everything is on the edge. I think a person should have already accumulated a certain life experience. It is even more important than the technical skills that are developed in the process. There, the price of a wrong word or movement is very high, and sometimes it is more important to forgive a friend for something that, perhaps, you would not have endured in ordinary life. To forgive there is the lot of the stronger. In general, the main thing is that a person has a positive attitude towards people and the world around him.
- Is it true that you can't catch a cold at the Pole?
It is impossible to get sick with colds there - there are no those same pathogenic bacteria. So don't sneeze or cough. During the passage through Antarctica, in any weather, I completely calmly wiped myself with snow every morning. The main thing is not to overcool.
In addition to hypothermia, what other dangers await travelers at the North Pole? Do polar bears meet?
Meet. If they go from the Western Arctic to Canada, they can go through the pole. Of course, they are dangerous predators, but, like all animals, they attack only when they see an available prey in you. Therefore, simple precautions must be taken. We used to take dogs with us, they barked if a bear approached the camp, and we immediately got out of our tents with guns. The beast immediately evaluates who is in front of him, and here it all depends on how you behave. The main thing - no panic, no flight - it only provokes them. And the ice can break underfoot. And if at the North Pole you can be pulled out of a crack, where the thickness of the ice is 2-3 meters, then in the Antarctic you can die - sometimes the depth can reach 3-4 kilometers.
Your cost of such a trip starts from 10 thousand euros... Surely, among your clients there are both very wealthy people and celebrities?
Eat. They come to celebrate birthdays. For example, famous oligarch and Faberge egg collector Viktor Vekselberg. There was Prince Albert of Monaco. Prince Harry is scheduled to visit next year. State Duma deputies regularly come.
- Recently, there has been a lot of talk about global warming, the melting of ice and the flooding of individual states ...
The very term "global warming" is completely wrong. Certain climate changes are taking place. And if ice is melting in the Arctic, Greenland and Alaska, then in the Antarctic there is a decrease in temperature. Most Russian scientists believe, and I join them, that this is in no way a consequence of the anthropogenic factor. That is, a person and emissions into the atmosphere have absolutely nothing to do with it. By the way, the minimum area of drifting ice was recorded in the Arctic in 2007, and now it is growing again. Millions of years ago, on the site of the Arctic Ocean, there was a warm pool with temperatures above 15 degrees. I think nature will figure it out, and everything will come back to balance.
A few years ago, the topic of mining on the Arctic shelf was discussed. How realistic is such a project?
About a quarter of the world's hydrocarbon reserves are concentrated on the shelves of the Arctic Ocean. The rich Shtokman field has been explored in the Barents Sea. This is our economic zone. But we cannot do it alone. Too expensive, you can't do without partners. So far, all states that have access to the Arctic are only trying to prove their right to these areas, as they say, stake out for the future.
Let's go back to Antarctica. Previously, under the control of the USSR, in fact, was all East End continent.
Now we have five stations out of eight. Mainly engaged in meteorology. Antarctica is the base for determining the climate of the entire southern hemisphere. It is on the basis of the data that comes every three hours that synoptic pictures are built. There are stations with a biological bias, geological, geophysical. They watch the polar lights. At the famous station "Vostok" explore unique lake. It was discovered in 1994. The thickness of the ice curved with a cap over the lake is about 4 kilometers, and the depth of the lake reaches 1200 meters. And what is most surprising, the water temperature there reaches plus 18 degrees! Work is underway to drill into the ice cap, so we may soon learn something completely new about our planet's past.
He, who crossed the Arctic Ocean and Greenland on dog sleds, would have lived freely on the pages of Jack London's books or among the polar explorers of the times of Papanin and Chkalov. But Boyarsky is our contemporary: a scientist and traveler, holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, head of the only polar museum in the country and owner of a unique tourism business.
Where did your business start?
In the early 1990s, I worked at the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, engaged in radioglaciology, a discipline that studies snow and ice in all its manifestations. This, you understand, was an unfavorable time for science. When it became clear that everything was falling apart, my friends and I organized a business in the area that we know and love, to which we devoted our lives. This is how the Vikaar travel agency appeared, organizing commercial and scientific tours to the North and South Poles.
What services does your company provide?
Variety. Firstly, ski tours, they can last from several hours to eighteen days - this, of course, is for the most resilient, able to live in a tent for a long time, cook their own food on a gasoline stove and endure such a cold that freezes everything, even adrenaline. Secondly, diving in the Arctic Ocean: you will not see any fauna there, but the under-ice world of the ocean with its caves and grottoes is also something fantastic. You can skydive to the pole. You can just fly there for two hours and see what kind of pole it is - this is the most budget tour, it costs about nine thousand euros. And, of course, we help various scientific organizations in conducting polar research.
There are probably many celebrities among your clients.
Not a lot. The entire Duma elite, the famous oilman and Faberge egg collector Viktor Vekselberg, Prince Albert of Monaco ... We later met with the latter in Switzerland, I rushed to hug him. "Why," I say, "didn't you come to me in Petersburg?" Well, his guards quickly reminded me that he is a prince! I somehow forgot, because at the North Pole everyone is equal, just like in a bathhouse, only everyone is dressed.
Can weather conditions interfere with your tour?
They can. This is a great difficulty in our business: due to the vagaries weather, ice conditions make it difficult for us to do tours regularly. Although, on the other hand, some dependence on nature adds extreme sports to travel.
Does your business activity intersect with activities in the museum?
All museum employees are simultaneously employees of a travel agency, this allows them to retain professionals, solve the issue of salaries and many other problems.
You took over as director of the museum in 1998. Did something change in his work?
I think the main thing I did was to save the museum for the city and the country. Because in the 1990s there were a lot of hotheads who wanted to take the building away from us. Once it housed the Nikolskaya Edinoverie Church - for the Old Believers, who came under the control of the Synod. After the revolution, in 1937, the unique Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic was opened here. With the collapse of the USSR, they wanted to return the building to the churches, but no one was going to provide any other premises for the exhibits, adapted for their storage. I had to go through several court cases to save our funds. Now we have in our hands all the official documents that allow us to feel confident.
Do you have a favorite exhibit in the museum?
I like objects behind which human destinies are read. We have, for example, a small pencil-drawn map of Severnaya Zemlya, made by the remarkable Soviet geologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Urvantsev. The huge archipelago in the shortest possible time was mapped by an expedition, where, in addition to Urvantsev, there were only three people! Behind these pencil lines is such a titanic work that I never dreamed of.
Who should be thanked for being a traveler?
To my father and Jack London. Dad was a sailor, he talked a lot about his service, and, of course, I also wanted to see other countries. And Jack London described dog sledding so contagiously!
During the polar expedition "Transarctic", your comrades gave you the nickname Magic Touch ("magic touch"). I wonder why?
Frankly, they were shocked at my ability to destroy very reliable things with a single touch. Knowing this peculiarity behind me, I took seven thermometers on the road so that in the end at least one remained. I still have a reputation as a general breaker, although, I must say, I repaired what didn’t work well.
Some philosophers are inclined to believe that the conflicts of the future will arise because of Antarctica: there are pristine mineral and water resources that are not enough for the inhabitants of densely populated continents. Do you think their predictions will come true?
I think no. If the mass of ice in Antarctica remains the same as it is now - and there is reason to believe that it is even growing - then there can be no talk of industrial mining of minerals, since it will be completely unprofitable, will require enormous costs and revolutionary breakthroughs in technology. Now, as you know, a fifty-year moratorium has been declared on developments of this kind, and I think it will be extended.
