S7 Airlines carried out the first tree planting, the funds for which were raised as part of the “We Are Siberia” campaign. A team of three hundred people— volunteers of EKA (ЭКА) transregional environmental organization and S7 Airlines employees—planted 5 hectares (538,196 square foot) of young pine and larch trees in the Kochenevsky District of Novosibirsk Oblast.

This active stage of the “We Are Siberia” campaign was started by Vladislav Filyov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of S7 Group. Together with Andrei Travnikov, Governor of the Novosibirsk Region, they planted the first seedlings of the future forest.

“I would like to thank everyone for your personal concern. We are very pleased to know that the idea has found a very wide response. We managed to raise the funds for planting one million trees in the Siberian regions in just one month. We understand that one million trees is only a small contribution, but I am sure that any effort is always better than inaction. I hope that our deed will inspire many others to start similar campaigns,” said Vladislav Filev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of S7 Group.

Famous actors, photographers, and popular bloggers came to support the project and participate in the tree planting. Among them are Gogol Center actor Nikita Kukushkin and St. Petersburg-based contemporary artist Elena Sheidlina, who created a photo project dedicated to the problem of forest fires in Siberia.

The next step will be the planting in Irkutsk Oblast, which will be held in October 2019. In just two years, over a million trees will be planted in the territories available for planting in the Siberian region. You can follow the progress of the project on the s7.ru website. Photo updates will be posted here. The website will also contain information on what areas are being planted, the number of trees planted, how the planted trees are being cared for, and how you can join the campaign as a volunteer.