An organising committee has been established to prepare for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of Russia's development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR).
The committee will be headed by Nikolai Patrushev, Chairman of the Marine Board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the creation of an organising committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of Russia's development of the Northern Sea Route. Aide to the President and Chairman of the Marine Board, Nikolai Patrushev, has been appointed chairman of the organising committee, as reported by the press service of the Russian President and the Marine Board.
To appoint as chairman of the organising committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the beginning of Russia's development of the Northern Sea Route, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Marine Board of the Russian Federation, N.P. Patrushev.
—Presidential Decree No. 136
According to the decree, within one month, the composition of the organising committee must be approved, and a plan for the main events for the preparation and holding of the celebration must be developed and approved. Regional officials are also recommended to participate in the anniversary celebrations.
Historically, it is generally accepted that the first person to speak about the possibility of the practical use of the 'North-East Passage' was the Russian theologian and ambassador to Europe, Dmitry Gerasimov, in 1525. Gerasimov referred to the voyages of the Pomors, inhabitants of the White Sea coast, who in the 13th and 14th centuries travelled on small ships to hunt sea animals in the Barents Sea and reached the Gulf of Ob.
Additionally, the Italian scholar Paolo Giovio, in his 1525 text Book on the Embassy of Vasily, Grand Duke of Moscow, to Clement VII, based on the accounts of Dmitry Gerasimov, writes:
It is well known that the Dvina, which receives countless rivers, rushes in a swift current to the north, and that the sea there has such a huge extent that, according to a very reliable assumption, keeping to the right bank, from there one can reach the borders of China by ship, if in the interval there is no land encountered.
In February, The Arctic Century wrote about a hint in Patrushev's interview that the anniversary of the NSR is a matter taken seriously by the government—What Are the Short-Term Plans for the NSR? We highlighted two key points at the time:
Source: Kremlin
Also read the publication:
Possible Reopening of Adak Naval Base in the Western Aleutians
