The editors of the «Molecule» talked with the famous traveler about the beginning of his travels, the exploration of the Middle East, the village of Fyodor Konyukhov and the place of Russia in the modern world.

Fyodor Filippovich Konyukhov
(born December 12, 1951, village of Chkalovo, Priazovsky district, Zaporizhia region, USSR) is a Soviet and Russian traveler, writer, artist, priest. The first person in the world to reach the five poles of the Earth: North geographical, South geographical, Pole of relative inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean, Mount Everest (pole of altitude), Cape Horn (pole of yachtsmen).

Fyodor Filippovich, what is travel for you? What goals do you set for yourself?
— Traveling for me is a way of life and a search for inspiration. I’m an artist first and foremost, not a traveler. In 1984, I became the youngest member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. I worked in the genre of lithography, graphics, sculpture, and painting. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris.
I capture my impressions from the expeditions on the pages of my diaries, make sketches, and then paint paintings in my studio in Moscow, most of which are in private collections around the world. My goal is to see with my own eyes this Land, which the Lord God created so beautifully. Someone says that I can’t stay at home — and rightly so, because I came to this Earth in order to experience it entirely, and not to live my whole life in one place.

What feats and records are you particularly proud of? In which expeditions did you most vividly prove to yourself and the world that the impossible is possible?
Russian Russians are not proud of themselves or their records, but I am pleased when people say that a Russian flew around the world in a hot air balloon on his first attempt, a Russian was the first to cross the South Pacific Ocean alone in a rowing boat, a Russian plans to dive into the Mariana Trench or climb into the stratosphere in a hot air balloon. With my records, I try to glorify Russia and push the boundaries of human possibilities.
In general, I am interested in the topic of the functioning of the body in extreme conditions. At one time, I was the head of the relevant laboratory at a Modern University for the Humanities.
Each of my expeditions is difficult in its own way, and the work is not only about physical fitness or the technical ability to make an expedition, but also about mentally preparing for it. Some expeditions have been preparing for years and even decades, because they require not only the latest technology, but also life experience, spiritual strength, and strong motivation. What I’m saying is, if you can’t climb Mount Everest, lie down towards Mount Everest and then your chances of climbing increase. One of the most difficult recent expeditions is perhaps the non-stop circumnavigation of the globe by a combined MORTON balloon from Australia to Australia in 11 days in 2016 and the passage by rowing boat AKROS in 2018-2019 from New Zealand to Cape Horn in 154 days. I am currently working on improving these achievements. For the first time in history, I want to make two orbits around the Earth in a balloon without landing in 20-25 days and complete the next stage on a rowing boat from Cape Horn to Australia in 200 days.

As an internationally renowned traveler, you have visited almost all parts of the globe. But you started your expeditions in your homeland. What are your first vivid impressions? How has the country changed today in terms of the development of territories and tourism infrastructure?
— I really started expeditions in my Homeland, or rather in my Small Homeland — on the shore of the Sea of Azov. My father was a fisherman and often took me to the sea. Soon I had the idea to sail across the Sea of Azov on a simple rowing boat to test my willingness to become a traveler. Of course, I didn’t tell my father about this and began secretly building a boat for the expedition. My father found my homemade boat and broke it into pieces with an axe, because he saw that I would definitely drown if I went out to sea on it. Then I had no choice, and I «borrowed» a boat from my father’s fishing group. To put it bluntly, he stole and swam safely across the Sea of Azov at the age of 15. Then there were international bike rides across the USSR, then I got into yachting and mountaineering, and my projects went beyond Russia and the former Soviet Republics. There are countless vivid episodes. I remember how long I dreamed of making the first solo yacht trip around the world in the USSR. For obvious reasons, it was almost impossible, but when I took the helm of my yacht Karaana and set sail from the port of Sydney, I felt a sense of incredible freedom and inspiration. This was the first time I circumnavigated Cape Horn alone, and the entire expedition took me 224 days without calling at ports. As for the tourist infrastructure, I hardly use it, my routes are far from civilization.

How was the idea of creating Fyodor Konyukhov’s Village born? Please tell us about the concept of the project.
— Previously, all my friends, artists, writers, climbers and yachtsmen, could come to my creative workshop on Sadovnicheskaya Street in Moscow, but over time I realized that it was crowded and needed a new place where my like-minded people and friends could gather. Today, 300 residential courtyards have been marked out in our Village, Temples, Chapels, a Museum and a School for Travelers, an art gallery, a comprehensive school, a medical center and a kindergarten are being built. More than 50 village streets are named after outstanding travelers, explorers and romantics, including I. Kruzenstern, V. Behring, G. Sedov, J. Cousteau, T. Heyerdahl, Y. Senkevich and A. Chilingarov. We plan to create a farmstead, craft workshops and a tourist infrastructure with an area of more than 60 thousand m2. The convenient location of the village helps to unite it with the key attractions of the Tula region and creates conditions for increasing the tourist flow.

You can be called an ambassador of Russia in the world, as in big-time sports you set records under the flag of the country, while interacting with the population of many states. How do people perceive Russia in different periods?
— Russia is respected in the world, especially by ordinary people. And they respect us precisely because we are still able to overcome ourselves, set ambitious goals in science, art, and sports, and are open to cooperation and cultural exchange. But sometimes it seems to me that this time is passing. What kind of ocean power are we if not a single Russian has set himself the goal of going around the world in 80 days on a sailing ship and winning the Jules Verne Cup? I get a call from France, inviting me to circumnavigate the globe on a catamaran in 55 days and take this prestigious Cup. But for some reason, athletes from Russia are not interested in this. Or diving into the Mariana Trench. We were the first in space, and we are far from the first in the ocean. The Americans and the Swiss have been there for a long time, and the Chinese have recently embarked. James Cameron assembled his bathyscaphe in a garage in Australia and boarded it. Victor Vescovo has created a reusable bathyscaphe at a company in America and now lowers tourists to a depth of over 11 km. We have the technology and the materials, but we don’t have the ambition. It really surprises and depresses me. If we want to be respected and interested in us, we must be the first in everything.

Please tell us about your expeditions in the Middle East. The project highlighted the high level of cooperation between Russia and the United Arab Emirates. How do you assess this mission and the prospects for cooperation on such projects with Arab countries? How can international partnership in humanitarian areas be expanded through travel?
— To be honest, I don’t have such a task to establish cultural and humanitarian ties between countries in any special way, I just don’t have time for this, but surprisingly, these ties are established by themselves. It is only necessary to start implementing such a project, as caring people, journalists, travelers, businessmen and diplomats from both sides gather around and lively interaction begins, exchange of opinions, solving various organizational tasks, etc. My team and I were very pleased with the level of hospitality and organization of our caravan expedition «Through 7 Emirates» and now we are planning a large trans-Arabian camel crossing, 2000 km long.

What are your impressions of the camel ride? What was especially striking about the culture of these places, the nomadic way of life? Are you planning to broadcast the history and peculiarities of the countries of the Arabian Peninsula to the world through your travels in the future?
— The expedition started in the suburb of Al Ain in the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi on January 27. The expedition’s route was laid through the territories of the emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm al-Qayweini and Ras al-Khaimah, where the crossing ended on February 5. We haven’t met a single European in all this time, only locals. We also tried to stay away from civilization, skyscrapers, and freeways.
In general, camel travel is a journey through time. The view of the huge sand dunes, the dry desert wind, the endless starry sky — all this sets up thoughts of eternity. We also dressed in traditional Bedouin clothes to touch the ancient traditions of the Arab nomads. The kandura shirt and the kufiya headdress are very comfortable and have not changed for many thousands of years. I was impressed by the comfort that the local teamsters provided for us at the halts. Carpets were spread out for us, delicious food was cooked over a fire, strong coffee was brewed in the morning, and all this in the desert far from civilization. After all, a person can create comfort for himself even in extreme circumstances, and the Bedouins know a lot about it.
I remember the hospitality shown to our expedition by Sheikh Sultan Bin Khaled Bin Mohamed Al Kasimi. At his invitation, we visited the ancient Al-Dawid fort in Sharjah. Throughout the journey, we felt the respect and support of the locals for the Russian travelers, which is very pleasant. We also visited Mleikha, the oldest known Neolithic archaeological site. Scientists believe that it was here at the intersection of many caravan routes that people began to domesticate camels more than 4 thousand years ago.
During this expedition, a larger idea was born — to cross the entire Arabian continent on camels. This expedition of more than 2000 km will take a couple of months. My team and I are already working on the route and looking for partners, both in Russia and in the UAE.

As a globally renowned personal brand, you work with sponsors and partners of expeditions. What values do you mainly convey and how does the business respond to them? Please tell us about the process of creating a project from concept to preparation.
— My son Oscar wrote well about the preparation of expeditions from scratch in his book «With my father across the Oceans». He has been my general manager and expedition organizer for over 25 years. I advise you to read it. In general, I have several expeditions in development at once in varying degrees of readiness, which allows me to travel almost continuously and set records in various disciplines. Many people think that I am spontaneously going on an expedition, but this is not the case. I’ve been thinking about the concept of many trips for several years, for example, the idea of flying around the world without landing in a hot air balloon has been hatched by me for more than 20 years. I have analyzed all the attempts made by Richard Branson, Steve Fossett, Bertrand Picard.
During this time, technologies have developed, organizational capabilities have improved, and a sponsor has been selected, a real romantic and successful entrepreneur, developer — Alexander Ruchiev. I am supported by those people who, in their youth, enthusiastically read Jules Verne, Thor Heyerdahl, Jack London, Joshua Slocum. Some of my partners are yachtsmen, mountain climbers, or balloonists themselves.
In this case, we speak the same language. And if it’s just about brands and advertising, the partnership may not work out.
In my expeditions, I also try to pay attention to the study of climate change, the problem of melting Arctic ice, and the distribution of microplastics in seawater. All this is also important for my partners, because the planet Earth is our common home, which we must preserve for future generations.

What are your ideas and plans for future expeditions?
— In mid-September, together with my friend Ivan Molchanov, an entrepreneur from Primorye, we will start a horse-riding trip in the footsteps of Vladimir Klavdievich Arsenyev, the great Russian traveler, ethnographer and pioneer. The idea of this expedition, by the way, was born in the UAE desert during the caravan crossing «Through 7 Emirates».
The expedition will take place on horseback along the routes laid out by Vladimir Arsenyev in 1900-1906 through the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, the coastal regions of the Sea of Japan, with the final point at the meeting place of Vladimir Arsenyev and Dersu Uzala in the village of Kavalerovo (Primorsky Krai). The participants will start on September 18 at 12:00 from Mount Bratka in Nakhodka and will walk more than 500 kilometers on horseback.
We will also install three autonomous Seismic-Meteo-Pro research stations along the route at key points along the route: Mount Bratya, Mount Snezhnaya and the Dersu-Uzala rock.
These stations will monitor the environment, allowing observations of seismic activity and climate change.
In November, God willing, I will begin the second stage of crossing the South Pacific Ocean on the rowing boat Akros on the Cape Horn — Australia route, with a length of about 15,000 km in 200 days.
With my records, I try to glorify Russia and push the boundaries of human possibilities.

Russia is respected in the world, especially by ordinary people. And they respect us precisely because we are still able to overcome ourselves, set ambitious goals in science, art, and sports, and are open to cooperation and cultural exchange.

My team and I were very pleased with the level of hospitality and organization of our caravan expedition «Through 7 Emirates» and now we are planning a large trans-Arabian camel crossing, 2000 km long.

If we want to be respected and interested in us, we must be the first in everything.