№ 1972. Russian Geographical Society

The Russian Geographical Society (RGS) was founded by a Royal Decree of Emperor Nicholas I in 1845. The idea to establish the Society belonged to Admiral Fyodor Litke, a mentor of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia, a future first RGS president. The new organization was tasked with “collecting and directing the best young forces of Russian to all-round study of the native land”.

Nowadays the Russian Geographical Society numbers 13,000 members in Russia and abroad. The Society has offices in all 85 regions of the Russian Federation. In November 2009, Vladimir Putin headed the supervisory board of the Russian Geographical Society. Sergey Shoigu, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, is the current president of the Russian Geographical Society.

The main activity areas of the Society are expeditions and researches, education and teaching, nature protection, book-producing, and youth outreach.

The postage stamp depicts a logo of the Russian Geographical Society.

FSUE PTC “Marka” also has manufactured a first day cover and first day postmarks for Moscow and St Petersburg to the postage stamp issue date.