The RT channel has won the Grand Prize of 11th Ecological TV-festival “Save and Preserve” in Khanty-Mansiysk in Western Siberia in June 2007. RT representatives have received the “Golden Ember-Goose” prize for a series of programme

One of the films of the series awarded was “Grey Whales of Sakhalin”.

Harsh but beautiful at the same time, Sakhalin is one of the most unsettled, but richest Russian territories. Huge reserves of oil and gas are situated there. But also the Sea of Okhotsk  that washes the coast of Sakhalin is one of the stamping-grounds of grey whales. There are only around a hundred of them left in the entire world and the exploitation of natural reserves is threatening not only the existence of these gentle giants of the sea, but the nature of Sakhalin as a whole. A team of scientists from the World Wildlife Fund is trying to establish the potential danger level of the oil and gas projects for the environment the Sea of Okhotsk and Sakhalin Island.