OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2010. Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order to hold the Silk Way international rally on the Russian territory.

Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, President of the Russian Olympic Committee was appointed chairman of the organizing committee of the rally which will take place along the route St. Petersburg – Sochi this September. Besides, Tatarstan’s President Rustam Minnikhanov, First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Oleg Morozov, Russia’s Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy Vladimir Mutko, other federal and regional officials, and also Head of the “Silk Way – Dakar Series” project Semyon Yakubov became members of the organizational committee of the rally.

At the same time when the order was signed in Moscow, a briefing for the Russian rally competitors was held in the course of which the organizers of the rally provided them with more specific information about the route of Silk Way 2010. The group exploring the route worked well so that Silk Way Rally 2010 could stay in participants’ memory for a long time due to its unexpected angles and opening of new regions and landscapes of diverse geographical zones in Russia’s European part. The sportsmen are to receive evidence that, however fantastic it may seem, there is a desert, huge sandy plateaus, the most difficult dunes, endless steppes with the most difficult navigation conditions and serpentine rally roads in Europe too.

The organizers solved important tasks; they planned where to place bivouacs, worked through the issues of cooperation with local authorities, coordinated the work of a flight formation of the rally, developed fuel logistics along the route. The organizers gave serious attention to protection issues as over 100 thousand spectators are expected to be present at some route legs, even in not the most densely populated areas.

Applications for participation in the race are no longer accepted. 70 crews from 28 countries made their applications. “Even an Arab sheikh from the UAE inquired about the conditions of participation in the rally”, Semyon Yakubov said, “In addition to last year’s participants we have new ones.”