RT & WWF RUSSIA LAUNCH JOINT SPECIAL PROJECT TO MARK FUND’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY

MOSCOW, MAY 24, 2019 — To mark 25 years since the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) opened its office in Russia, RT’s documentary channel RTDoc is teaming up with WWF Russia to film a special documentary about the work of the fund in the country. The documentary, ‘Freed to be Wild’, will air on RT.

The documentary focuses on WWF Russia employees who work hard to save rare and endangered species living in the wild across Russia, such as the Amur tiger and leopard, saker falcon and white bear. Filming is taking place in some of Russia’s most remote regions, such as Primorsky Krai, South Siberia and Chukotka.

“The work done to conserve nature in various parts of our country often goes unnoticed, and documentaries like this one help raise people’s awareness about these important — and at times dangerous — efforts. For 25 years, WWF Russia employees have been doing their best to preserve nature, and we are happy about our joint project with RTDoc that is launching on our 25-year anniversary,” said Yury Sochnev, Communications Director at WWF Russia.

WWF’s work to preserve the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East is carried out in close cooperation with the relevant authorized government agencies, with the help of the Amur Tiger Center and WWF Russia.

“Our documentary is about the animals, but the main characters in it are the people who devoted their lives to protecting wildlife. We wanted to show the tremendous effort it takes to rescue wild animals and return them to their natural habitat, as well as the motivation of the people who risk their lives to do it,” said head of RTDoc Ekaterina Yakovleva.

RTDoc documentaries have won numerous awards, both in Russia and internationally. In 2018, RT’s Growing up with War: Children of Syria received first prize at the prestigious New York Festivals Awards, while two other documentaries — Love Commandos and Sea Life Savers — took silver and bronze in their respective categories. At the 2017 New York Festivals, RT documentary H2wOe chronicling the severe water crisis in India received top honors. In 2015, RT’s Albino Africa was recognized for Best Documentary at New York Festivals, while in 2014, the competition’s top prize was awarded to another RT production called Blood and Honour. In 2011, RT’s Town of Little Angels won silver in the TV and Web Design category at the OMNI Intermedia Awards. The same year, RT documentary Children of the Tundra won first prize at Russia’s national film awards Strana.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) is one of the largest independent, international environmental organizations that unites 5 million regular supporters and operates in more than 100 countries around the world. WWF’s mission is to preserve biological diversity, prevent the escalating degradation of the natural environment and create conditions for a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. The first WWF projects in Russia started as early as 1988, and in 1994, the Fund opened its representative office in the country. In 2004, WWF-Russia became a national organization. Over 25 years, the Fund has carried out more than 1,000 field projects in 47 regions of Russia.