The letter of the winner Ekaterina Murasheva will be placed in a special time capsule during the memorial expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to Wrangel Island, which started on September 19.
The competition was organized by the RGS and the Russian Ministry of Defense and is timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the raising of the Russian flag on Wrangel, as well as the assertion of Soviet sovereignty over these territories. From July 4 to August 10, 2025, participants from all over the country sent their letters to the future, which combined a description of the modern Arctic and forecasts for its further development. This is not the first such initiative: a similar message was laid by the Soviet polar expedition in 1974.
In her message, Ekaterina Murasheva spoke about the importance of developing the Northern Sea Route (NSR), studying permafrost degradation, and analyzing the dynamics of glacier melting. The contestant stressed that it was necessary to comprehensively study the natural laboratory, where each species was an indicator of a changing climate.
The 2025 capsule. Photo: RGS press service
«The competition received more than 100 entries from various cities of Russia, ” said Natalya Belyakova, Director of the Expeditionary and Tourism Development Department of the RGS. "It is important to emphasize that the time capsule will contain more than just text. We will include a video showing how the feature film directed by Aleksey Vakhrushev 'The Master of the Earth’ was created. For the filming, the only traditional Eskimo settlement in the Arctic was built from more than 2,000 tons of natural materials: stone, fin and whale skeletal bone. The prototype was the ancient village of Naukan on Cape Dezhnev. The crew included Eskimo elders, archaeologists, ethnographers, architects, and film artists. Thus, we will leave to our descendants not just a text, but a complete visual image of the Arctic of the past."
The expedition team has now set sail. In addition to the memorial work, the researchers will raise a flag on Wrangel in honor of the anniversary: one hundred years since the establishment of sovereignty over the island. In the fall of 2025, the winner of the competition, Ekaterina Murasheva, will be presented a certificate and souvenirs by the representatives of the RGS.