A closing press conference for the International Festival of Youth (IFY – 2026) took place in Ekaterinburg. It was opened by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Festival of Youth – 2026.

“During the days of the Festival, Ekaterinburg became the youth capital of the world – clearly and unquestionably,” said Sergey Kiriyenko.

He noted that, above all, this event dispelled several myths about Russia. First, it became clear that our country cannot be isolated. The UN has 193 member states, and delegations from 191 of them took part in the Festival. The second myth was the stereotype of Russia as a country of “bears in the streets, empty shops, and aggressive people.”

“You should have seen the emotions of our international participants who had previously heard something along those lines. First came surprise, then respect and admiration. They said that in their own countries, there are no opportunities like these for young people’s self-realization,” shared Sergey Kiriyenko.

The head of the IFY – 2026 organizing committee noted that an exhibition about Russia on this scale had never existed before. He thanked all the ministries, major corporations, organizers and exhibition participants, and noted that thanks to them, Russia was presented as a modern, high-tech country. It matters a great deal, Sergey Kiriyenko emphasized, that Russia was represented to the world’s youth by their own peers – young scientists, passionate entrepreneurs, students, and people working in new technologies.

Sergey Kiriyenko separately noted how the attitude toward young people changed over the course of the Festival among older generations of organizers, participants and volunteers.

“I heard from many of them that young people are good – both Russian and international. Notice that we had a lot of entertainment spaces here. We thought participants would spend most of their time there. But you saw the kilometer-long lines for lectures by Sergey Lavrov, Maxim Oreshkin, and Dmitry Chernyshenko – hardly entertainment events. The conversations at those sessions were about serious, substantive things. The events of the Znanie.Pervye marathon alone drew 12,000 people. The exhibition was supposed to run daily until 8 or 9 p.m., but there were days when we extended its hours until midnight,” recounted Sergey Kiriyenko.

Another example of dispelling myths was young people’s interest in books. The head of the Festival’s organizing committee recalled the long lines at the libraries operating on-site.

“More than 7,000 books by Russian authors – half in Russian, half in foreign languages – were taken home by participants; it was the most sought-after prize. That’s telling. All the talk about a generation that’s grown up watching nothing but 30-second vertical videos and never reading thick books – that’s complete nonsense. I was glad to see so many adults admit that their perception of young people had changed,” shared Sergey Kiriyenko.

An important event of the IFY – 2026 was the large-scale gastronomic festival, which allowed participants to connect with Russian culture through its culinary traditions and through the specific people who cooked for guests. Entire families who love and continue the culinary traditions of their peoples and regions worked at the venue. Participants showed particular interest in the field kitchen organized on-site by the Russian Ministry of Defense. In total, the gastronomic festival was visited by 15,500 people. It was originally planned that 20,000 portions of food would be prepared over four days; in the end, that figure rose to 45,000.

The head of the Festival’s organizing committee had special words of thanks for the volunteers, who greeted arriving participants at airports at any hour of the day or night, created an atmosphere of hospitality on-site, and congratulated those celebrating birthdays. Special attention was given to young people with disabilities, who were actively included in every event.

The Ural region became a truly hospitable land these past days. “Your weather is colder, but your people are much warmer,” Sergey Kiriyenko said, quoting feedback from participants. “That’s a valuable assessment,” he noted. Over the course of the event, participants took part in 600 guided excursions around Ekaterinburg and its surroundings. The head of the organizing committee also thanked the team at Ural Federal University – both its leadership and its student body – for providing accommodation for participants. Housing Festival guests this way proved convenient both for the participants themselves and for the city.

Sergey Kiriyenko shared statistics from the Festival’s results. The number of views of online content posted by international guests has already exceeded 1.5 billion. And the combined length of that video content is roughly equivalent to 1.5 years of continuous viewing.

The organizers also ran a series of surveys before and after the Festival. The results showed that, after taking part in the IFY – 2026, 95% of international participants hold a positive view of Russia, with 70% of them describing the country in superlative terms. 96% of Festival participants report positive emotions, with 68% describing their impressions as filled with admiration. There were no negative assessments: the remaining 4% of respondents described the event in neutral terms.

During the Festival, many participants wore national costumes and wrapped themselves in their national flags. More than 4,500 people took part in the World Youth Parade on September 14. Sergey Kiriyenko noted that the Festival represented a multipolar, mutually respectful world – not just in words and discussions, but in practice. In his assessment, if relations between countries and peoples were built the way they developed at the Festival grounds, the vast majority of problems simply wouldn’t exist.

“The people we had here weren’t random. Our guests are opinion leaders within their own communities, in their own countries. They’re taking all these emotions back home with them. And no one will ever again convince them with stories about a hungry, ruined, hostile Russia. It won’t be long before these people are the ones shaping economic and political decisions in their countries,” noted Sergey Kiriyenko.

He added that, for many participants, their time in Russia is not over yet – a thousand people are heading out to different regions of Russia, and will also visit Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Grigory Gurov, Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), noted that organizing the Festival became a genuinely nationwide task.

“This is an event that no single team could pull off alone – it’s a massive, country-wide undertaking. The Presidential Executive Office, the Government of Russia, every relevant agency, the Societies Znanie and Tavrida.ART, the DOBRO Association, the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, the Ecosystem movement, the young people of the Movement of the First, the More Than Trip program, the ANO Games, the Presidential Platform ‘Russia – the Country of Opportunities’ – everyone took part. And, of course, the Sverdlovsk Region and Ekaterinburg,” said the head of Rosmolodezh.

He also noted that 20 heads of international youth agencies took part in the Festival and were introduced to Russia’s approach to youth work.

“We have unique technologies for working with young people, ones that surprise our colleagues around the world. We showed them the youth centers being built on the President’s instructions, and introduced them to the leaders of various student communities,” explained Grigory Gurov.

Following the Festival, the agency signed five agreements containing concrete action plans and roadmaps. Another 15 are planned to be worked out by the end of the year.

“In addition, we’ve already created a platform where, after the Festival, registration will open for every event taking place across Russia. We’ve also agreed that our platform will share information about international events as well,” added the head of Rosmolodezh.

He also reported that the agency’s next large-scale event, with around 4,000 participants, will take place in Krasnoyarsk in 2028, and that representatives of the region are already studying the experience of running the IFY – 2026. According to a decree by the President of Russia, the next World Youth Festival is set to take place in 2030.

“Team Russia is ready for any challenge. And most importantly, through our open hearts and our actions, we’re showing that we’re ready to carry out these ambitions on the international stage,” concluded Grigory Gurov.

Denis Pasler, Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, in turn emphasized that the Festival that has just concluded is the largest international event ever held for Ekaterinburg, as it is for most Russian regions.

“The region has certainly never before welcomed guests from so many countries, and that’s a great source of pride, and of responsibility. I want to thank our residents for their hospitality, for the warmth with which they welcomed participants, and for how proudly they talked about their cities and about the Sverdlovsk Region. And, of course, for Ekaterinburg itself – home to 250,000 students – a young, modern, beautiful, dynamic city. We always knew it was like that ourselves, but having all our guests see it that way, and recognize it as the world’s youth city, means a great deal,” stated Denis Pasler.

Overview:

The International Festival of Youth, held as part of the Youth and Children national project, is taking place in Ekaterinburg from September 11 to 17, 2026. The decree establishing the event was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 29, 2025. The Festival is being held under the motto “Follow Your Dream”.

Participants of the IFY – 2026 include 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries, including 5,000 Russians and 5,000 international citizens. Among them are leading representatives of creative industries and the arts, public administration, science and education, sport, entrepreneurship, media, digitalization and IT, and civic engagement – people who are already shaping the future of their countries and the world. Continuing the successful practice established at the World Youth Festival 2024, those invited include 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 – 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. The Children’s Program is organized by the Movement of the First.

The World Youth Festival took place from March 1 to 7, 2024, in Sirius, in accordance with a decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, aimed at developing international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.

In line with instructions from Russia’s President on preserving and building on the legacy of the World Youth Festival, festival events are now held annually across Russia. The World Youth Festival Directorate continues its work to strengthen international youth cooperation and build a community of young people who care about the future of the world.