“Moving is impossible”: Former director of the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic - about the Russian Orthodox Church and polar bears. “Moving is impossible”: Former director of the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic - about the Russian Orthodox Church and polar bears Weather conditions may interfere with the tour
Famous Russian polar traveler, honorary polar explorer of Russia, Chairman of the Russian Polar Commission Geographical Society, member of the National Geographic Society of the USA, full member of the National Academy of Tourism and the International Academy of Refrigeration, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, member of the Russian Writers' Union.
After graduating in 1973 from the radio engineering department of the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. V.I. Ulyanova (Lenin) worked as a researcher in the Department of Ice and Ocean Physics of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, working on 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 of four Soviet Antarctic expeditions, including pioneering work to study the possibility of creating an ice neutrino detector at the Vostok inland station, wintered at the drifting station "North Pole - 24", studying research on the problem of remote thickness measurement sea ice, participated in the work of radiophysical teams as part of the high-latitude scientific expeditions “North”.
In 1987, V. Boyarsky was included from the USSR in the International Expedition “Transantarctic”, dedicated to 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 USA, Great Britain, Japan, France and China, crossed the island of Greenland from south to north on skis and dog sleds, covering 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 crossing of the world's largest island along the meridian in history - became the prologue to the historical international expedition "Transantarctic", in which V. Boyarsky represented Leningrad and Soviet Union. Over the course of 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 6,500 km without the use of mechanical means. Most route V. Boyarsky walked ahead. The Transantarctic expedition 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. Stiger, conducted three expeditions in the Canadian Arctic to prepare an international expedition from Russia to Canada through the North Pole as part of the International Arctic Project. The expedition, called “Double Pole – 95”, took place from March to July 1995. Over the course of four months, the expedition members, among whom, in addition to V. Boyarsky and W. Stiger, 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 country’s only and one of the largest Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic in Europe, which was threatened with eviction from the former Edinoverie temple building that it occupied since its foundation, which would inevitably lead to actual destruction of a unique exhibition. These efforts culminated in the revival of the museum in 1998 in the new status of the Russian state museum Arctic and Antarctic. V. Boyarsky becomes its first director. In the period from 1997 to 2013, he organized and conducted more than 25 ski expeditions to the North Pole, and led 30 flights 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 was awarded the title “The Most Polar St. Petersburger.”
Since 1994, V. Boyarsky has headed 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 in the Canadian Arctic” and “The Creation of Ellesmere” " Since 2005, V. Boyarsky, together with the expedition center of the Russian Geographical Society "Polyus", 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 for the implementation of extreme tourism programs and scientific observations carried out both domestically and internationally. 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 badge “Honorary Worker of the Hydrometeorological Service.”
“Do you have a crowbar?” - asks Viktor Boyarsky, an honorary polar explorer of Russia. Fomka is needed to remove 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. The confrontation between him and the new leadership of the structure lasted for a couple of years. Roshydromet advocated moving the museum to Vasilyevsky Island- and, accordingly, the release of the building on Marata, the former St. Nicholas Edinoverie Church, 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 of his dismissal developed, what will happen to the stuffed polar bears Masha and Arthur, and when a modern branch will open on the icebreaker in Kronstadt.
Photos
Vasily Jonga
- 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 related to the non-renewal of the contract by the founder - according to the law, he has the right to do this without explaining the reasons. They are, however, obvious. For the last two years, Roshydromet and I have had a disagreement in our positions regarding the fate of the museum. Roshydromet believes that the museum should be relocated to Vasilyevsky Island - under the pretext of freeing the building on Marata for the church. But we stand by the fact that the building cannot be touched.
- Do you continue to go to work?
I am now the museum’s deputy director for public relations, and will continue to go to work.
- Is this an official position?
Yes. And even if there were no vacancy for a deputy, 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 to move will not be implemented. Roshydromet is now even further from this than when the story began, there is simply no money to move. As for everything else... during the confrontation, Roshydromet filed several lawsuits against me. As a result, the Vyborg District Court is considering a civil case about my causing damage - in the form of lost profits - to the museum. One million two hundred thousand rubles.
- How was this amount calculated?
You have to go back 20 years to understand what we are talking about. To begin with, I’ll 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. - Ed.). In 1991, my colleagues and I created a company organizing tourist expeditions to the North Pole. And we decided to support the Arctic Museum at the expense of this company. The museum was then in a shambles; there was no money. For seven years we actually maintained the museum and at the same time worked to ensure that it received state status (at that time it was simply a department of the Arctic Institute). In 1998, the museum became state-owned.
Our company continued cooperation with the museum until recent years(now the funding has more or less gone). If there were no this company, and the museum would not exist now, we would all be sitting in another place, and here we would be singing songs in chorus.
I found this 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 to transfer money to the museum. The company paid for the purchase of new exhibits, equipment, communications - everything.
All this was known to the founder (Roshydromet. - Ed.). But when the fuss with this building began for the first time in 2014, and at a meeting I immediately declared that the museum would not go anywhere, certain 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 company’s legal address is here, on Marata. They started asking me on what grounds. The reasons are simple: if the management and employees of the company, who are also employees of the museum, are located here, why not give the same address?
As a result, they accused me of renting out 19 square meters to my company, instead of renting them out at market prices to some company that produces horns and hooves. But the museum, in principle, cannot rent out anything, we don’t have space! If there were, we would use them, for example, for display. 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, which, without entering 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, when it was filed, the case has never been heard on its merits. And yet, 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 against me. This is not a criminal, but a civil case, and not two, but one. If the case had been heard on its merits, it would have been closed long ago, since according to our legislation, the employer does not have the right to recover lost profits from the employee. Only direct damages are recovered. This is the main position of our defense.
To say that our actions caused damage to the museum is absurd. All our activities were dedicated to preserving the museum. We are at the top in terms of production indicators, we exceed everything: in the thirty best museums cities, attendance grows by 5-6 thousand every year.
- Will there be a competition for the vacancy of a new museum director?
No. Roshydromet wanted to get budget money for moving the museum so much that in its zeal it was ahead of even the Russian Orthodox Church. But now Yakovenko began to say that there are no plans to move the museum - he took stock of the situation and realized that this was unrealistic.
I was offered to resign back in '14, but I refused. They waited until the contract expired and were very happy not to renew it. But since I rose a big wave in support - and quite high-ranking people also spoke out there... I don’t know how this 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.
- Are there 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 became inflamed with love for the museum, they said 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, Sobaka magazine published an interview with you about your travel company...
Yes, we are talking specifically about the Vikaar company - it appeared in 1991, and it supported the museum.
- Does it exist now?
Yes, but I am no longer the director or the owner. Because Roshydromet wanted to see its case through so much that it issued a decree equating directors to civil servants who are prohibited from engaging in commercial activities.
- What I mean is that from the interview: among Vikaar’s clients there were serious people - the Duma elite, Vekselberg and others. Couldn't they influence the situation?
As I already said, high-ranking people spoke out in our support. But the presence of a civil case, which Mr. Yakovenko considers criminal, allows for great manipulation. Imagine: people are told that I have two criminal cases against me. They start to think.
- Do I understand correctly that the community of the same faith is no longer interested in the museum building?
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 first application of the Russian Orthodox Church, saying that there was no other suitable building for the museum in the city. I said: “For the museum, no - but for these 30 people (of the same faith community - Ed.) find at least 100 meters of non-residential property.” They are able to maintain it and conduct services. As a result, they vacated the premises nearby - there was a Medtechnika store there, which, by the way, was quite nice. We gave 160 meters to these guys. They equipped it in two years. The rector came and complained that he couldn’t pay the utilities. I say: “But how were you, Pyotr Alexandrovich, going to pay utilities while occupying this building?”
- Do you communicate with him?
Of course, it's been 20 years.
- Unlike Roshydromet.
One must understand about Roshydromet that new people have come there. They don't know where the Arctic and Antarctic are. We’ve never been to the museum; they call it “the warehouse of dusty penguins.” We've been to St. Petersburg many times, but we can't go to the museum. All meetings on the museum are held in the diocese. I'm not invited. And after that they say that they need a museum. Guys! No need to be a hypocrite. We are not asking for anything, we can handle 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 poor are they.” The fact that we have 70 thousand people a year, 40% of whom are children, does not bother them. Some kind of disgusting hypocrisy.
The museum cannot be moved. For example, dioramas are not transportable. The exhibition has existed here for 80 years. I won’t say that it’s modern, and there’s no need to. This museum has the right to be what it is. He conveys the aura of those years - the 1950s–1960s, when we were really present in the Arctic. We change something carefully, evolutionarily, without introducing dissonance. The main thing is that people like it, not just us. I haven't seen a single negative review.
- But isn’t it strange for you to be within such – still obviously church – walls?
Strange. But that’s how history decreed. In the 1930s, when the building was empty, at the request of the Arctic Institute, it was transferred to a museum. It was completely remodeled and the staircase was re-roofed. We are satisfied with the size and location: the fact that the museum is located within walking distance of three metro lines is a big plus. I’m not saying that there is no need to develop, it is necessary - at the expense of branches. But this site must be preserved and left.
- What about the idea of creating a museum center in Kronstadt - on the basis of the icebreaker "Arktika", 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. Dismantling the reactor alone will take a year and a half. Next, a brave soul must be found who will take responsibility for the maintenance of the museum center. The point is to set up an exhibition there that meets modern requirements - interactive, multimedia. It will be very cool. There will be no stuffed animals, “dusty penguins.” The museum will have two sites. Here it will be possible to record the period from historical times to the mid-twentieth 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 the bear Masha is from, she was here before me, 30–40 years ago 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, in the snow on Palace Square, - the leadership of the party and government understood: worthy people were following Masha. And they shouted: “Glory to the Soviet polar explorers!” Then Masha stood here, since 1995 I haven’t let her go outside because she was in bad condition. In the 2000s, I kept looking for a partner for her, so that Masha would not be bored. And in the end we got a detainee with skin polar bear poacher in Norilsk. Most likely brought it to order. The poacher was probably imprisoned, and the skin was given to us - I named this bear Arthur, in honor of our Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov.
- 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 workers on Wrangel Island throwing an explosive package to a polar bear they had previously fed. The animal dies in agony. - Approx. ed.)
There is a lot of talk now about returning to the Arctic. They are returning, yes, but at the same time, elementary long-term traditions are being violated, which, for example, presupposed very specific instructions about what can and cannot be done. People get there with gadgets and gadgets and a complete lack of idea about where they are. The first commandment is no feeding of bears. As soon as a bear appears, it must be driven away from the station as far as possible. Idiots feed them, and then get offended that the bear has a goodwill towards 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 wasn’t a bear next to that bear! Unfortunately, bears do not live in pairs - otherwise the “husband” would come and kick this brigade.
- Final question. In a recent interview with Meduza, you said that you got out of more difficult situations than this whole story with your dismissal. What were these situations?
I don’t see anything complicated in this situation at all. Stupidity, of course, causes disappointment - but it is not fatal. A “difficult situation” is when there is a threat to life. Imagine someone getting sick - can illness really compare to this bullshit? Well, just think - not the director. This is 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 did and what we strived for will continue.
As a child, Viktor Boyarsky loved the stories of Jack London, 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 the winter 3-4 times a year, and better than anyone else he knows many of the secrets of this unique place.
- Viktor Ilyich, what kind of place is this - the North Pole?
Very interesting place! On the one hand, it’s just a point on the ice of the ocean, around which there is solid South for all 360 degrees. Moreover, the pole is not static, but constantly moves and is determined only by instruments. Time loses its meaning here; the sun shines non-stop from March to September. It’s as if you live in the same dimension with the entire planet.
You've been organizing for quite some time now. tourist excursions. Take tourists to “stay” at the North Pole. How are the expeditions going?
Now a year I make 3-4 expeditions with people who dream of visiting the North Pole. For many it still remains something magical. And then suddenly the opportunity arises to be in this place. Of course, there are a lot of impressions left. There are expeditions on skis and on an icebreaker. In April, tourists arrive here 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 primus stove. And in the summer we rent the icebreaker. You can also parachute or scuba dive. No fauna in Severny Arctic Ocean you won’t see, but caves and grottoes under layers of 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, there is no shame in crying. One cannot completely get used to the cold; it discourages a person from thinking or walking. But after all the tests, people experience tremendous satisfaction. You have proven 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 wildlife not worth it. Even my 78-year-old grandmothers reached the Pole.
- By the way, do women and men endure northern hardships equally?
The implication is 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, there were two women with us on the expedition - an American and a Japanese one. So, they completed the route no worse, and in many ways even better than some of the young men.
- Does the harsh climate change people? What qualities should a real polar explorer have?
The way a person is formed is the way he comes there. If he is good here, he will be good there too. If it's bad, then it's even worse. Everything is on the edge there. I believe that a person must already have accumulated certain life experience. It is more important than even 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 tolerate in ordinary life. Forgiving there is the destiny 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?
You can’t get colds there - those same pathogenic bacteria are not there. So you 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 get too cold.
Besides hypothermia, what other dangers await travelers at the North Pole? Are there polar bears?
Dating. If they go from the Western Arctic to Canada, they can pass through the pole. They are, of course, dangerous predators, but, like all animals, they attack only when they see you as an available prey. Therefore, you need to take simple precautions. Previously, we took dogs with us, they barked if a bear approached the camp, and we immediately crawled out of our tents with guns. The beast immediately assesses who is in front of him, and here everything depends on how you behave. The main thing is no panic, no flight - this only provokes them. And the ice can also break under your feet. And if at the North Pole you can be pulled out of a crack, where the ice is 2-3 meters thick, then in Antarctica you can die - the depth can sometimes reach 3-4 kilometers.
The cost of such a trip starts from 10 thousand euros... Surely, among the clients there are very wealthy people and celebrities?
Eat. They come to celebrate birthdays. For example, the famous oligarch and collector of Faberge eggs Viktor Vekselberg. There was Prince Albert of Monaco. England's Prince Harry is scheduled to visit next year. State Duma deputies come regularly.
- Lately there has been a lot of talk about global warming, melting ice and the flooding of individual states...
The term “global warming” itself is completely misleading. Certain climate changes are occurring. And if the ice is melting in the Arctic, Greenland and Alaska, then in the Antarctic the temperature is decreasing. Most Russian scientists believe, and I join them, that this is in no way a consequence of the anthropogenic factor. That is, people 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, in place of the Arctic Ocean there was a warm pool with temperatures above 15 degrees. I think nature will sort it out and everything will return to balance.
Several 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 deposit has been explored in the Barents Sea. This is our economic zone. But we cannot achieve this alone. Too expensive, you can’t do it without partners. So far, all states with access to the Arctic are only trying to prove their right to these areas, as they say, to stake a claim for the future.
- Let's go back to Antarctica. Previously, the entire eastern part of the continent was under the control of the USSR.
Now out of eight stations we have five operating. Mainly engaged in meteorology. Antarctica is the basis for determining the climate of the entire southern hemisphere. It is on the basis of data received every three hours that synoptic pictures are built. There are stations with a biological, geological, and geophysical bias. They watch the polar lights there. At the famous Vostok station they explore unique lake. It was discovered in 1994. The thickness of the ice arched above the lake is about 4 kilometers, and the depth of the lake reaches 1200 meters. And what’s most surprising is that the water temperature there reaches plus 18 degrees! Work is currently underway to drill into the ice cap, so we may soon learn something completely new about the past of our planet.
He, who crossed the Arctic Ocean and Greenland on dog sleds, would have lived at ease on the pages of Jack London's books or among the polar explorer heroes 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 country’s only polar museum and owner of a unique tourism business.
How did your business start?
In the early 1990s, I worked at the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, studying 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 field that we know and love, to which we dedicated our lives. This is how it appeared tourist agency Vikaar, which organizes 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, capable of living in a tent for a long time, cooking their own food on a gasoline stove and enduring such cold that everything freezes, even adrenaline. Secondly, diving in the Arctic Ocean: you won’t see any fauna there, but the under-ice world of the ocean with its caves and grottoes is also something fantastic. You can parachute to the pole. You can just fly there for two hours and see what kind of pole it is - it’s the most budget tour, it costs about nine thousand euros. And, of course, we help various scientific organizations conduct polar research.
There are probably many celebrities among your clients.
Quite a lot. The entire Duma elite, the famous oil industrialist and collector of Faberge eggs 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 see me in St. Petersburg?” Well, his guards quickly reminded me that he is a prince! I forgot, because at the North Pole everyone is equal, just like in a bathhouse, only everyone is dressed.
Weather may interfere with the tour?
They can. This is a big difficulty in our business: due to the vagaries by year, ice conditions make it difficult for us to do tours regularly. Although, on the other hand, some dependence on nature adds extreme to travel.
Does your business activity overlap with your museum activities?
All museum employees are also 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. Has anything changed in his work?
I think the main thing I did was preserve the museum for the city and the country. Because in the 1990s there were many hotheads who wanted to take the building away from us. Once upon a time, it housed the St. Nicholas 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 church, but no one was going to provide any other premises for the exhibits, adapted for their storage. I had to go through several courts to save our funds. Now we have all the official documents in our hands that allow us to feel confident.
Do you have a favorite exhibit in the museum?
I like objects that reveal human destinies. We have, for example, a small pencil-drawn map of Severnaya Zemlya, made by the wonderful Soviet geologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Urvantsev. The huge archipelago was mapped in the shortest possible time by an expedition that included only three people besides Urvantsev! Behind these pencil lines there is such titanic work that I have never even dreamed of.
Who should you thank for becoming 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 traveling on dog sleds so infectiously!
During the Transarctic polar expedition, your comrades gave you the nickname Magic Touch (“magic touch”). I wonder why?
To be honest, they were shocked by my ability to render very reliable things unusable with a single touch. Knowing this feature, I took seven thermometers on the road so that in the end I would have at least one left. I still retain my reputation as a universal repairman, although, I must say, I fixed things that didn’t work well.
Some philosophers are inclined to believe that future conflicts will arise over Antarctica: there are untouched mineral and water resources, which the inhabitants of densely populated continents lack. 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 increasing - then there can be no talk of industrial development of minerals, since this will be completely unprofitable and 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.