Russian and International Youth Join Nationwide Clean-Up Campaign
Russian and International Youth Join Nationwide Clean-Up Campaign
Apr 28, 2025, 1:07 PM

Russia hosted the Nationwide Clean-Up Week, organized by the “Ecosystem” Movement in collaboration with Rosmolodezh as part of the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland. Ahead of the 80th anniversary of Victory, participants of International Friendship Clubs and WYF Directorate’s foreign partners joined the campaign.

“We introduced our foreign partners to the Clean-Up Campaign and they took the initiative and organized clean-ups at memorials and monuments of the Great Patriotic War in their countries. These events have already taken place in some European countries: Bulgaria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia, Macedonia, Luxembourg. In addition, clean-ups in Russian regions, hosted by IFCs, have been joined by foreign students of Russian universities from Senegal, India, Syria, Oman, Moldova. We deeply appreciate the commitment of our international friends that vividly exemplifies the unity of nations in their ambition to preserve historical truth about the Great Patriotic War”, shared Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate.

For example, Bulgarian activists together with local volunteers restored the memorial plate commemorating the feat of a partisan unit which destroyed fascist military equipment.

“We couldn't just disregard what had been done to this monument commemorating the feats of a military unit that fought against fascists. We call on everyone to remain vigilant, honor our ancestors' memory, and prevent vandals from desecrating our heroes' legacy”, shared campaign participants.

In Belgium, Kevin De Ridder, Head of the WYF Directorate’s Project Office, and Gratiana Andrade, Secretary of the Belgian-Russian Friendship Association, visited the Ixelles Cemetery in Brussels and cleaned up the graves of soldiers who fell in battle during the Great Patriotic War. Belgium is a foreign partner of the International Friendship Club of the Sverdlovsk Region. The partners introduced the IFC participants to the memorial sites they visited during the campaign, and shared their history, thus preserving the memory of heroic deeds.

“I am really glad that so many active young people have joined us today, including foreign participants. We have just had a call with our partners from Belgium, who were happy to join us. It’s cool that we all share these values”, said Mikhail Pyostry, activist of the International Friendship Club of the Sverdlovsk Region.

In the Czech Republic, ahead of the 80th anniversary of Victory, young people restored a monument to the Red Army, which might have remained unnoticed under a layer of leaves and weeds but now inspires pride.

In Germany, local activists of the WYF Directorate held a clean-up at a mass burial site in Hürth-Knapzak, a suburb of Cologne, where 106 Soviet prisoners of war are buried. The campaign was joined by the Youth Council of the All-German Coordinating Committee and members of the international organization “Memory for the Future” with participation of students from the school at the Russian Consulate General in Bonn.

In Serbia,Aleksa Gajić, head of the WYF Directorate’s International Project Office together with other activists, cleaned up a monument in the city of Kragujevac dedicated to Soviet liberator soldiers.

“We will always remember and preserve the memory of our heroes and won’t let anybody distort history”, noted Aleksa Gajíc.

In North Macedonia, WYF Directorate’s activists paid tribute and visited several memorials dedicated to the heroes who helped liberate the country. In Luxembourg, WYF Ambassador Artem Rudkovsky took part in a clean-up at the Bonnevoie Luxembourg Cemetery, where the main stele commemorates, among others, our compatriots who fell during the Great Patriotic War.

In Russia, International Friendship Clubs organized clean-ups in 22 regions. IFC participants of the Pskov Region cleaned-up the area around the Obelisk to the Victims of Fascism and laid flowers.

“We came here because we respect Russian history and want to honor the memory of those who fulfilled their duty to the country during the Great Patriotic War. It’s really important to remember history and preserve memorials!”, said Zein Hussein, activist of the IFC of the Pskov Region from Oman.  

WYF-2024 participants and international students from the Astrakhan Region collected litter in Cosmonaut Komarov Street and the adjacent park. In the Vladimir Region, activists took part in a clean-up at the Prince Vladimir Cemetery. In the Udmurt Republic, representatives of the International Friendship Club cleaned up Victory Square. In the Irkutsk Region, young people organized a clean-up of the significant memorial site – Lisikhinsky Cemetery, where soldiers and home front workers of the Great Patriotic War are buried. Activists of the Krasnodar Territory cleaned-up the graves of Great Patriotic War veterans at the Vsesvyatskoye Cemetery in Krasnodar.

“This campaign is an important step for me because we should remember and respect those who gave their lives for our freedom”, shared Lev Kremer, activist of the International Friendship Club of the Krasnodar Region.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival took place on March 1–7, 2024 in Sirius, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.

On the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the WYF will be held in Russia on a regular basis – once in six years. Also, every six years 10,000 young people from all over the world will get together at the World Youth Festival Forum, and in between, international themed assemblies for 2,000 participants will be held under the auspices of the WYF. The first Assembly is scheduled to take place in September 2025 in Nizhny Novgorod. Festival events of various formats will be held in Russia annually.

According to the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation on the preservation and development of the Festival legacy, the World Youth Festival Directorate continues the work aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation.