The final press conference of the International Youth Festival (IYF – 2026) was held in Yekaterinburg. It was opened by First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Youth Festival – 2026 Sergey Kiriyenko.
“During the days of the Festival, Yekaterinburg became the youth capital of the world precisely and indisputably,” said Sergey Kiriyenko.
He noted that first of all, this event debunked several myths about Russia. First, it became clear that our country cannot be isolated. The UN includes 193 states, and delegations from 191 attended the Festival. The second myth is the stereotype of Russia as a country where “bears roam the streets, stores are empty, and people are aggressive.”
“And one had to see the emotions of our foreign participants who had previously heard something like that. First comes surprise, then respect and admiration. They said that in their countries there are no such opportunities for young people’s self-realization,” Sergey Kiriyenko shared.
The head of the IYF – 2026 organizing committee noted that there had never been exhibitions about Russia on such a scale. He thanked all ministries, major corporations, organizers, and participants of the exhibition and noted that thanks to them Russia was shown as a modern, high-tech country. It is very important, Sergey Kiriyenko emphasized, that Russia was represented to the world’s youth by their peers – young scientists, enthusiastic entrepreneurs, students, and young people working with new technologies.
Sergey Kiriyenko separately noted how the attitude toward young people among older-generation organizers, participants, and volunteers changed during the days of the Festival.
“From many of them I heard that young people are good, both Russian and foreign. Note that we had many spaces for entertainment. And we thought that participants would spend a lot of time there. But you saw kilometer-long lines for lectures by Sergey Lavrov, Maxim Oreshkin, and Dmitry Chernyshenko – far from entertainment events. The conversation at these meetings was about serious and substantive things. The events of the ‘Znanie. First’ marathon alone were attended by 12,000 people. The exhibition was supposed to operate daily until 8–9 p.m., but there were days when we extended its hours until midnight,” Sergey Kiriyenko said.
As another example of debunking myths, he cited young people’s interest in books. The head of the Festival’s organizing committee recalled the long lines at the libraries that operated at the venue. “More than 7,000 books by Russian authors, half in Russian and half in foreign languages – the young people took them home; it was the most desired prize. That is telling. All the talk that a generation has grown up that only watches 30-second vertical videos and does not read thick books is complete nonsense. I was pleased that a large number of adults admitted that their idea of young people had changed,” Sergey Kiriyenko shared.
An important event of IYF – 2026 was the large Gastro Festival, which allowed participants to connect with Russian culture through culinary traditions and through the specific people who cooked for the guests. Entire families worked at the venue who love and develop the cuisines of their peoples and regions. Particular interest among participants was aroused by the field kitchen organized at the venue by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In total, 15,500 spectators visited the Gastro Festival. Initially it was planned that 20,000 portions of food would be prepared over four days; in the end this figure increased to 45,000.
The head of the Festival’s organizing committee expressed separate words of gratitude to the volunteers, who met participants flying to Russia at airports at any time of day, created an atmosphere of hospitality at the venue, and congratulated those celebrating birthdays. Special attention was paid to young people with disabilities, who were actively involved in all events.
The Ural region became a hospitable land during these days. “Your weather is colder, but the people are much warmer,” Sergey Kiriyenko quoted participants’ feedback. “That is a valuable assessment,” he noted. During the event, its participants went on 600 off-site excursions around Yekaterinburg and its surroundings. The head of the organizing committee also thanked the team of Ural Federal University – both the leadership and the students, who provided accommodation for the participants. Such accommodation for the Festival’s guests was convenient both for the participants themselves and for the city.
Sergey Kiriyenko presented statistics on the results of the Festival. The number of views of online content posted by foreign guests has already exceeded 1.5 billion. And the duration of the videos equals approximately 1.5 years of continuous viewing.
The organizers also conducted a number of surveys before and after the Festival. The result was that after participating in IYF – 2026, 95% of foreign participants have a positive attitude toward Russia, of whom 70% speak about our country in superlative terms. Positive emotions are experienced by 96% of Festival participants, of whom 68% describe their impressions as admiration. There are no negative assessments: the remaining 4% of respondents speak about the event in calm tones.
During the days of the Festival, many of its participants wore national costumes and wrapped themselves in national flags. And more than 4,500 people took part in the procession of the world’s youth on September 14. Sergey Kiriyenko noted that the Festival represented a multipolar, mutually respectful world – not in words and discussions, but in practice. In his assessment, if relations between countries and peoples were built the way they took shape at the Festival venue, the vast majority of problems simply would not exist.
“There were no random people here. Our guests are opinion leaders in their groups from different countries. They return home with all these emotions. And no one will deceive them anymore with stories about a hungry, destroyed, and malicious Russia. Very little time will pass, and these people will determine economic and political decisions in their countries,” Sergey Kiriyenko noted.
He added that for many young people the visit to Russia is not over yet – a thousand people are traveling to regions of Russia, and will also visit Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) Grigory Gurov noted that organizing the Festival became a truly common task for the country.
“This is an event that cannot be done alone by one team; it is a big country-wide task. The Presidential Administration, the Government of Russia, all agencies, the Znanie and Tavrida.ART societies, the Dobro.RF Association, the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, the Ecosystem movement, the young people from the Movement of the First, the ‘More Than a Trip’ program, the ANO ‘Games,’ the presidential platform ‘Russia – Land of Opportunities’ – everyone took part. And, of course, Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg,” said the head of Rosmolodezh.
He also noted that 20 heads of foreign youth agencies took part in the Festival, and they were introduced to the Russian system of working with young people.
“We have unique technologies for working with young people that surprise our colleagues in the world. We showed youth centers that are being built on the instructions of the President and introduced them to leaders of various student communities,” Grigory Gurov explained.
Following the results of the Festival, the agency concluded five agreements containing specific event plans and roadmaps. Another 15 are planned to be developed by the end of the year.
“In addition, we have already created a platform where, after the Festival, recruitment will be opened for all events taking place in Russia. Plus, we agreed that we will also transmit information about international events on our platform,” added the head of Rosmolodezh.
He also announced that the next large-scale event involving about 4,000 people under the agency’s auspices will take place in 2028 in Krasnoyarsk, and representatives of the region are already adopting the experience of holding IYF–2026. The next World Youth Festival, according to a decree of the President of Russia, is to take place in 2030.
“Russia’s team is ready for any challenges. And the most important thing is that with an open heart and our deeds we show that we are ready to realize these ambitions at the international level,” Grigory Gurov concluded.
Governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast Denis Pasler, in turn, emphasized that the completed Festival for Yekaterinburg, as for most regions of Russia, is the largest international event.
“The region, of course, has never before hosted guests from so many countries, and this is a great pride and responsibility. I want to thank our residents for their hospitality, for the way they gladly welcomed participants, and for the pride with which they spoke about their cities and about Sverdlovsk Oblast. And, of course, Yekaterinburg, where 250,000 students study, is young, modern, beautiful, and dynamic. We ourselves knew that it was like that, but the fact that all the guests saw it that way and recognized that it is a city of the world’s youth is worth a great deal,” Denis Pasler stated.
Reference:
The International Youth Festival, implemented within the framework of the national project “Youth and Children,” is being held from September 11 to 17, 2026 in Yekaterinburg. The decree on its holding was signed by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on December 29, 2025. The Festival is held under the motto “Follow Your Dream.”
The participants of IYF-2026 were 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries of the world, of whom 5,000 are Russians and 5,000 are foreign citizens. Among them are the best representatives of creative industries and the arts, public administration, science and education, sports, entrepreneurship, media, digitalization and IT, as well as civic engagement – those who are already shaping the future of their countries and the entire world. Continuing the successful practice of the World Youth Festival 2024, the invitees included 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 – 500 from Russia and 500 from foreign countries. The organizer of the children’s program is the Movement of the First.
The World Youth Festival was held from March 1 to 7, 2024 in Sirius in accordance with a decree of President of Russia Vladimir Putin for the purpose of developing international youth cooperation. 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries of the world took part in WYF-2024.
In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation on preserving and developing the legacy of the World Youth Festival, festival events on the territory of the Russian Federation are held annually. The Directorate of the World Youth Festival continues its work aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation and developing a community of young people who care about the future of the world.
Sincerely,
the IYF-2026 Media Center team
International Youth Festival 2026 Concludes in Yekaterinburg, Welcoming Delegates From 191 Countries
