BAKALSKAYA KOSA /Crimea/, August 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday it is inadmissible to ideologize the forthcoming World Festival of Youth and Students due to be held in Russia in October.
"You know, I will tell what I think and I hope the festival’s organizers will hear me. Way back, such festivals used to be set up by leftist movements, that is why they were held in the former Soviet Union and other socialist countries," he said at a meeting with participants in the Tavrida educational youth forum.
"Now, I think, we must avoid politicization. This event should be dedicated to young people from all around the world, regardless of their political views," he said, adding that ideologization should be avoided.
"If we succeed in doing it, Russia will be seen as a good venue for uniting young people under the umbrella of common humanitarian values," Putin stressed.
According to Putin, direct contacts between people from various countries, despite the existing strains in inter-state relations, would be continued in creative unions and in joint projects and "it would be fine, it would be good."
World Festival of Youth and Students
Russia will host the World Festival of Youth and Students on October 14-22. An international student carnival parade will be held in Moscow on the opening day of the festival. Further events will take place in the Olympic Park of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on October 15-22.
The forum is expected to be attended by more than 20,000 young people from 150 world nations, including representatives of non-government organizations, lecturers and politicians. Participants will be offered to visit a number of Russian cities and take part in regional programs.
According to the organizers, the festival’s goal is to consolidate the youth of the world around the idea of justice, to strengthen international ties and develop interethnic and inter-cultural relations.
The World Festivals of Youth and Student are organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) every four years starting from 1947. The first festival was held in Prague. Moscow has hosted the event twice, in 1957 and 1985. The 1957 festival was the biggest ever one in the entire history of the festival movement - it brought together 34,000 delegates from 131 countries. The previous World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Ecuador in 2013.