Russian and American Journalists Set Epic Trip to Plumb Russia's Depths

Montpelier, VT, August 10, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​As relations between the US and Russia dip to all-time lows, two journalists – one American, one Russian – have announced the successful crowdfunding of their epic project to dig deeper into the roots of Russian-American discord.

Paul Richardson (Montpelier, Vermont) and Mikhail Mordasov (Sochi, Russia) are uniting their talents, curiosity and skills as journalists to undertake a 30-day, 5000km road trip along “The Spine of Russia” that will take them through fifteen Russian regions, two dozen large cities, and countless villages and towns. They will meet with Russians in the places they live, gather the stories of their lives, ask them what they feel about the current state of world and domestic affairs, and share the interviews, photography, video and stories through a project website, via mass media articles, and in a beautiful coffee table book to be published next spring.

“They are many ways to do journalism,” said Richardson, who is editor of the 56-year-0ld English language magazine Russian Life. “For this project we have chosen a sort of longitudinal approach: to journey through the vastness of modern Russia, from its furthest northern reaches to its southernmost shores. We will visit places of great historical significance, as well as places that no one in the West has heard of, intentionally seeking out stories that show the complexity of this ancient country, capturing what Russia and Russians are living through, and where they would like their country and culture to go.”

While the team will share its adventures along the way via a members-only website and mass media articles, the project’s main focus is creation of a coffee table book with rich images and vivid stories. “We have chosen to focus on a book because of its permanence,” Richardson said, “because, unlike digital media or a timely press story, a book like this forces one to slow down, look closely, and take time to absorb what one is seeing.”

The bi-national aspect of the project is also important, Richardson said. “Mikhail and I have complimentary strengths – his is in photography, mine is in writing. Yet he also writes and I also shoot images. More importantly, we also bring to this different cultural and historical baggage. I am a child of the Cold War, he is a child of perestroika. He is Russian, I am American. It is our hope that, by sharing our differing perceptions of what we experience en route, the result will be far better than what either of us could have achieved alone, and certainly something greater than the sum of its parts.”

In addition to the 324 international backers who funded the project via Kickstarter, several corporate sponsors have jumped on board to support the project, including Nikon, Volkswagen, ThinkTank Photo and Like Hostels. The trip will begin in Kirkenes, Norway, in October, and end on the shores of the Black Sea one month later. Yet even this is only the first part of the duo’s grand scheme. If the trip across Russia is successful and the book is well-received, a second, parallel trip will be made across the US, from Alaska to Maine.

For more information, visit spineofrussia.org.