The VOYAGE@555 expedition, which is held under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society, started in Tver on September 2. As part of the ambitious project, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the RGS Center in India, Director of the Russian House, and Honorary Consul of Russia in Trivandrum Ratish Nair intends to repeat the path of the Russian pioneer Afanasy Nikitin, the author of the notes "Voyage Beyond Three Seas”. The route will pass through the cities of Russia, India, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Oman 555 years after the famous journey of the Tver merchant.
The starting point of the unusual project was the embankment in Tver, named after Afanasy Nikitin. Then Ratish Nair will sail to Astrakhan along the Volga, then by car he will get to Derbent, from there, to Azerbaijan and Iran. A plane will take him to Oman and then to India.
The project was presented at the end of August at the Headquarters of the RGS by Ratish Nair and Ilya Gurov, First Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Geographical Society. According to the plans, the trip will take 45 days. The aim of the initiative is to tell residents of foreign countries about the beauty of nature and the potential of Russia, to establish and strengthen cultural, scientific, and trade relations, and regional cooperation.
“Even in India, not everyone knows that Afanasy Nikitin was the first foreigner who came to our country for peaceful purposes. Friendly relations between India and Russia should be strengthened. This is the main purpose of my journey. I am sure that a trip that follows the path of the Russian traveler will help show Russia as it is and open it to foreigners without speculations and fakes," said Ratish Nair.
In Tver, Ratish Nair met with Lyudmila Skakovskaya, Senator of the Russian Federation Council from the Tver Region, and Sergei Smirnov, Rector of Tver State University. The meeting participants discussed the opening of online courses in Russian in the Indian state of Karnataka as well as other educational initiatives.
“I am sure that this is a wonderful undertaking – the repetition of the path of the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin. This will help educational work, draw attention to the traveler's personality, and strengthen the ties between our countries. I am sure that in our country, the preservation of history and its study is one of the most important areas of work," Lyudmila Skakovskaya noted.
The Russian Geographical Society, Rossotrudnichestvo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Russkiy Mir Foundation, with the support of Rosatom State Corporation and PAO Sberbank are the organizers of the project.