The World Federation of Democratic Youth and a number of large international student organizations supported the initiative to hold the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in Russia in 2017. Earlier, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rosmolodezh submitted its application to host this major youth forum in our country.
Viktor Mishin, Chairman of the Soviet Preparatory Committee of the 12th World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow, says that the festival is not only a political, but also a cultural event: “In 1985, we had a good sports program; people were running a festival mile then, and the start to this festival mile was given by the then-chairman of the International Olympic Committee. There was a simultaneous chess game on thousands of boards, which was played by the leading grandmasters of the world, led by Anatoly Karpov, then the world chess champion. [Head choreographer of Bolshoi Theatre Yuri] Grigorovich staged individual scenes with the ballet "Swan Lake" were set on the ponds in the Park of Culture and Rest named after Gorky, and leading soloists of the Bolshoi Theatre danced. While people who were engaged in the cultural program, and in the children's program, and the sports program, and the political program, are still alive, they are ready to share the experience that existed.”
Grigory Petushkov, Chairman of the National Council of Youth and Children's Organizations of Russia, would like that “every young person in our country feels his involvement in the preparation and in the conduction of the festival, and his responsibility for this festival. And then, years later, of course, also to say that the festival in 2017 in Russia was the most or one of the most bright events of his youthful life for him.”
According to Petushkov, “the consolidated youth should become the participants of this festival, which represents all sectors of society, all the plurality of the political orientation of youth organizations. There should be the best representatives of the youth and youth organizations: workers, agrarians, guys who represent science, representatives of culture, representatives of sports, Olympic champions. The Russian should represent the whole spectrum of our multinational country.”
