An international winter motorbike expedition, Northbound, held under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society, has set out from Togliatti, the Murmansk government's department of information policy and media relations reported. Over 10 international crews from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Samara, Togliatti, Voronezh, Tula and Krasnodar, as well as Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the post-Soviet Baltic countries, are participating in the expedition.

The expedition members will travel from Togliatti to St. Petersburg and Murmansk and then to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Their destination is the German city of Passau, where bikers will represent Russia at the Elefantentreffen international motorbike festival. They will cover over 15,000 kilometers, repeatedly crossing the Arctic Circle. 

The expedition is dedicated to the 170^th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society and the centennial of the hero city of Murmansk, the largest city beyond the Arctic Circle.