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Russian Seasons covered 90 German cities, over 430 events held - Culture Minister

Culture is "bridging and helping to better understand each other," Vladimir Medinsky said

HAMBURG, December 8. /TASS/. The Russian Seasons cultural festival was staged in 90 German cities, with 437 events implemented within its framework to date, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said at a press conference before the project closing ceremony.

"Statistics is approximately as follows: the project covered 90 German cities; 437 events took place," the minister said. These were concerts, exhibitions, stage performances, movie showing, lectures, and many other events, Medinsky said. The number of visitors was several million. "Several million people managed to become better familiar with the Russian culture," he added.

Culture is not a ‘soft power,’ Medinsky noted. "Culture is not the power. It is the environment where we live," he said. Culture is "bridging and helping to better understand each other," the minister added.

Such festivals "are the positive agenda particularly needed for our relations now," Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev said in his turn. "This is in the interests of our culture, in the interests of Russian-German relations as well," he added.

"The festival actually continues and closing is symbolic," Medinsky noted. Certain events will continue in December and even early in 2020, he said.

About Russian Seasons

The Russian Government and the Ministry of Culture initiated the Russian Seasons project. Within its framework, guest performances, exhibitions from museums, circus art festivals, movie showings, ice and circus shows take place in one of foreign states throughout the calendar year.

The Russian Seasons project was implemented for the first time in Japan in 2017, followed by Italy in 2018 and Germany in this year.

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