WYF 2024 Regional Program Is Nearing Its End
After March 7, the World Youth Festival moved from the Sirius Federal Territory to dozens of Russian regions as part of the regional program. 2,000 representatives of foreign youth from 147 countries went on a trip to Russia. Today, on March 16, this unique journey through the culture, history and scientific and technological potential of our country is coming to an end for many delegations.
"The regional program of the World Youth Festival showed young people from all over the world the real Russia — different yet united. They saw with their own eyes all the diversity of our country. They saw the mosaic of the Russian cultural code, the majestic nature, and the community of many peoples and representatives of different religions," said Ksenia Razuvaeva, Head of Rosmolodezh.
WYF 2024 participants traveled along specially designed thematic routes: Live and Work in Russia, Memory Lane, Country without Borders, and We Are Back in Russia. Each of them also visited the Russia International Exhibition and Forum in Moscow.
"We are very grateful to all the regions that have hosted foreign participants of the WYF 2024. They not only showed Russian hospitality and warmth, but also introduced the participants to our multinational culture, showed our achievements in science and economics, sports and culture, technology and industry. All this has filled young people from abroad with energy and desire to be friends with Russia, to travel around our country, to study at Russian universities, to maintain friendship with our youth and, of course, to develop diplomatic and international relations," said Larisa Sulima, Deputy Director General for Regional Cooperation of the World Youth Festival Directorate.
She noted that the Festival participants visited industrial enterprises, cultural and historical sites, scientific and educational centers, and even learned how families of different nations live. They did not just taste Russian multinational dishes, but also helped to cook them. Some participants had the chance to visit a Russian bathhouse, ride a deer, cross the Arctic Circle, and much more.
Today the final events of the Memory Lane route are taking place in Tula. On March 16, the foreign participants of the WYF 2024 visited the Tula Kremlin and the Kazan Embankment and took a tour of the city's museum district.
"Thanks to the regional program of the World Youth Festival, I got to see Russia. There are a lot of museums in Tula, and I liked the Kremlin the most. There we learned about the history of the city. I was impressed by the fact that even women and children helped defend Russia during World War II, in the hero city of Tula too," said Alexandra Gomez, a WYF 2024 participant from Panama.
Young people from abroad also took an interactive Cuisines of the World tour, where they learned how to make Russian pelmeni. At the end of the day, the WYF 2024 participants met young people from Tula. Together they sang songs of the war years, including famous Katyusha.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, one of the cities on the Country without Borders route, the WYF 2024 participants summed up the results of the regional program. During this time they saw unique natural landscapes, went dog sledding, tasted Kamchatka venison shurpa for lunch, and even visited an outdoor thermal pool.
"I was impressed by the amazing nature of Kamchatka, I have not seen anything like it in any other place. I am a geographer and have read much about this place, but seeing it with my own eyes is incredible. I learned a lot about Russia. The WYF 2024 regional program has shown that this is one of the best countries in the world, whose citizens care about their national and cultural identity," said Stevan Gligorovich, a WYF 2024 participant from Serbia.
__________
The World Youth Festival took place in the Sirius Federal Territory on March 1-7, 2024, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Development of International Youth Cooperation.
The World Youth Festival is organized by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and operated by the World Youth Festival Directorate.