A meeting of the Scientific Council of the Russian Geographical Society was held at the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society in Moscow on December 13. The 2024 grant campaign applications were discussed at the event. Each of the permanent commissions of the Society and the Scientific Council of the Russian Geographical Society presented their own projects. The meeting was attended by SSU Rector, Deputy Chair of the Saratov regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society Alexei Chumachenko.

The presentation of awards of the Russian Geographical Society became part of the agenda. To mark the 175th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society, Alexei Chumachenko was awarded a small silver medal for his contribution to the development of geographical science and education in Volga Region.

The society highly appreciated his scientific and pedagogical work, the active involvement of modern geoinformation trends in the system of geographical education, professionalism in the field of cartography, geoinformatics, aero- and space methods of Earth exploration, geoinformation modelling, medical geography, and geoecology. The contribution of the SSU rector to the development of the Saratov regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society is of great importance.

The small silver medals of the Russian Geographical Society (approved in 1858) are awarded for selfless assistance in the activities of the Society, contributing to the preservation and multiplication of the glorious traditions of the Russian Geographical Society, strengthening its scientific, organizational, financial and economic condition. In different years, medals were awarded to V.A. Poltoratsky, N.M. Przhevalsky, and A.A. Dostoevsky.

Since 2013, among the few holders of the small silver medal of the Russian Geographical Society are six regional branches of the Russian Geographical Society and seven people: S.S. Sobyanin, L.Y. Vorobyov, A.B. Usmanov, I.G. Chaika, V.E. Pronichev, M.G. Magomedov, and F. Paulsen.