ARTEK (Crimea), July 22. /TASS/. Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov has invited leaders of European countries and the US to visit the Artek International Children's Center and ensure that people of different nations can live in a friendly atmosphere, a TASS correspondent reported from Artek.
"I would like to appeal to all leaders of countries - European, US. <...> Come visit Artek, as today there are children from almost all countries, see for yourself what a good, friendly atmosphere there is," Kravtsov said.
He added that work on developing Artek's cooperation with other countries will continue. "We will do everything to develop our international relations and for you to have a good time here, to make friends, to develop. And when you go back to your countries, you will take a piece of Artek, a piece of love with you," the minister said, addressing Artek's participants.
He recalled that Ukrainian authorities in 2014 prepared to hand over the center to private entrepreneurs to build a cottage village on its territory. Also, the UK recently imposed sanctions against 13 Russian citizens, including Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov, as well as against the Artek International Children's Center in Crimea.
"I just can’t wrap my head around sanctions against Artek. I’m OK with sanctions against me, we are already used to it. <...> Sanctions, on the contrary, strengthen our country, and soon we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the international center, which the Kiev regime wanted to turn into a cottage village. In 2014 there was a plan to transfer Artek into private hands, it was in a terrible state," Kravtsov pointed out.
"In my opinion, no action by Western countries [will affect Artek]. On the one hand, this is simply regrettable, but on the other hand, it shows that we are winning the information war that is being waged against us. Artek is an example of this, when all the guys came, had a rest, made friends and communicated," Kravtsov pointed out.·Artek was founded in 1925. After Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014, the children's center, which now consists of nine camps, became federal property. Artek is one of the most effective state development projects in Crimea.
Now the International Children's Center hosts an international shift, which is attended by about 3,200 children from more than 50 countries. Among them are students from Abkhazia, Armenia, Belarus, Germany, Egypt, Israel, Spain, Kazakhstan, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Poland, Serbia, Syria, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Finland, France and Sweden.