International Festival of Youth 2026 in Russia: “Follow your dream!”

In the heart of Eurasia, the largest youth forum on the planet has come to an end. The NEO author went to Yekaterinburg and heard what the festival’s participants from all over the world had to say.

The opening ceremony of the International Youth Festival. Rossiyskaya gazeta

The number of participants hosted by the IFY is truly awe-inspiring: 10,000 young people from 191 countries around the world. I manage to strike up a conversation with my first interlocutor on the bus on the way to the festival’s main venue, the Yekaterinburg-Expo International Exhibition Center. Usseni is from Niger. He graduated from Moscow State Regional University and now works at his country’s ministry of foreign affairs. At the festival, what he values especially are the opportunities to talk with his colleagues, i.e. diplomats and linguists from other countries (by the way, he admits he was struck by how extensively the study of foreign languages is developed in Russia) and to get acquainted with Russian culture.

“I also dream of seeing as many museums and other sights as possible,” he shares. I gladly advise him on which places in the Urals are worth visiting first. Moreover, Usseni learns a new Russian word from me: “African studies.” During our trip, our conversation glides to scientific, cultural-historical, political, and philosophical topics. Mindful of the recent events in Niger, which were covered in detail on the pages of NEO, I cannot help but ask about what is most pressing:

“I read that your country recently experienced a coup attempt. How is the situation now?”

“Everything is fine now. The African Corps of the Russian Ministry of Defense stopped it. Our president is very grateful to Russia and wants to expand relations.”

“Have the French been a nuisance?”

“Indeed. But we kicked them out! We remember their racist attitude toward us. Imagine, we still have descendants of mixed marriages with them trying to put themselves above others, even despite the fact that any inequality has been eliminated and is prohibited by the constitution.”

For some time we talk about international politics, and I tell my interlocutor that we Russians have generally come to understand that racism is being actively imposed on the Old Continent not only toward the inhabitants of colonies, former and current, but also toward other peoples in general. Usseni warmly agrees and launches into reflections on how, even after decolonization, cooperation with France essentially gave nothing for the development of Niger, its society, and its economy.

“But here in Russia,” he returns to local matters, “what I admire is that many different ethnic groups live in peace and mutual understanding…”

A few hours later, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an address to the festival guests, will say: “There is a peculiarity of the Russian language: the word “mir” means friendship, accord, and at the same time, “mir” means the planet, humanity, all the countries and peoples of the Earth. This explains a great deal about the character of the multiethnic people of Russia, about our decisions and actions. If we are friends, we are friends firmly and for a long time. If we live as neighbors, we want everything to be fair and with respect for one another. We stand for ensuring that a person remains a person, and that his fate is not determined by citizenship, by a wallet stuffed with money, by status or origin. We believe that every people is free to choose its own path of development, to have equal access to medicine, food, water, energy, the opportunity to receive an education, and to use the latest technologies, which should be the property of all humanity. This is what we strive for, what we fight for, what we dream about. If you share these aspirations, let us change the world together.”

…But now, I am giving my acquaintance a brief guided tour, on my own, of the fundamentals of the Russian Federation’s state national policy, while our bus cruises along the highway connecting Yekaterinburg with the airport, affectionately nicknamed “Rosselevka” by the people in honor of the legendary governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast, E. E. Rossel, who did a great deal for the socioeconomic development of the region. Usseni, continuing to philosophize, barely manages to turn his head in all directions, after which he concludes: “Your infrastructure is amazing. I have taken part in many youth events abroad, even quite recently, for example, I was at a forum in Italy, but no one knows how to organize such events at such a high level as Russia.” Let us remember this thought, we shall return to a little later.

Having passed a line of buses bearing the words “I’m head to the World Youth City,” we approach the expo center, and here I find myself in a massive, seething, multiethnic, and multicultural sea of joyful faces, of every possible foreign language, of music, dance, and song, of rhymes and rhythms from all over the world. Right at the entrance, two young participants are rehearsing an energetic dance with rather exotic musical accompaniment. One of them turns out to be Moroccan, the other Nigerian. Both study in Dubai. Only the first has so far managed to visit Russia (Saint Petersburg), which left a deep impression on him. Everyone wants to find new friends among the thousands of participants, learn more about the country organizing the festival, and visit various Russian cities.

And here........

© New Eastern Outlook