SIRIUS /Federal Territory/, March 5. /TASS/. The West attempted to undermine the World Youth Festival (WYF), trying to talk its participants out of attending and hinting at repercussions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with TASS.

"The West was both intimidating, and talking out of it, and hinting at consequences, and simply not providing the information about [the festival], suppressing or distorting it," the diplomat said. "All sorts of things went on. Yet the world’s youth made their choice. As you understand, these are not some made up people, these are not their holograms. These are real young people from all continents who arrived here and who are saying that they want to be friends, they want peace, they want to interact, have mutually beneficial relations, want the future for our planet and not the dead end our ill-wishers are dragging us into."

Zakharova noted that the atmosphere at the festival is not only about joy and celebrations, "it is also the atmosphere of discussions and the discussions on very serious subjects." "The thing is that there are discussions about geopolitics, everywhere and in different ways," she added. "Some are talking about it as a future political scientist, expert or a young diplomat who has just arrived in our country," the spokeswoman explained. "So yes, here, everything is being combined at once," she concluded.