The Russia from West to East expedition to make aerial videos of hard to reachplaces in the North
© RIA Novosti. Oleg Pashuk

The Russia from West to East expedition to make aerial videos of hard to reach places in the North

Participants in the Russia from West to East expedition will travel on board air-balloons in the Russian North and videotape its hard to reach places. This has come from the head of the expedition, aeronaut Valentin Yefremov. He was speaking with the news agency TASS. The expedition started from Veliky Ustyug on March 8, 2017. Its aim is to trace the route of the Russian discoverer Semyon Dezhnyov. Its destination is a cape in Chukotka named after him.

"The most interesting places are found in a stretch of land from western Yakutia to Cape Dezhnyov. There is a lot of history, a lot of what has been preserved. A lot to be seen on the coast. This area hasn't been visited by anyone for several hundreds of years," he said.

The expedition will cover 25,000 kilometers. It will pass through Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ust-Kut, and Severobaikalsk. The expedition members will install a cross, a boat and a bell on Cape Dezhnyov in memory of the pioneers.

The aeronaut Valentin Yefremov was the first man in the world to reach the North Pole in an air-balloon in 2005 and the first to fly over Lake Baikal.