10.05.2017

​An official visit of the Krasnoyarsk delegation to the Slovak city of Žilina

Krasnoyarsk and Žilina became sister cities in 2013, when an agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical, educational and cultural cooperation of the cities was signed. The first project within the partnership cooperation was the charitable festival "Children to Children", which in 2014, with the participation of the Slovak side, acquired an international status.

In 2017, as part of the development of cooperation in the field of culture, Žilina was visited by the director of the "Romanovs’Art Gallery" and collector Valentina Romanova, accompanied by a landscape photographer Alexander Kamakaev. The main purpose of the visit of the Krasnoyarsk delegation to Žilina was participation in the opening of exhibitions under the general title "Pristine Siberia". The exposition presents the works of Krasnoyarsk artists: Valery Kudrinsky, Ivan Ovchinnikov, Alexander Popp and landscape photographer Alexander Kamakaev. During the opening of the exhibition, a greeting letter from the Mayor of Krasnoyarsk Edkham Akbulatov was read out: "Krasnoyarsk and Žilina are separated by thousands of kilometers, but today the residents of Žilina, despite the distance that separates us, can see and meet Siberia, better understand and feel the legendary Siberian character. We, Krasnoyarsk people, are happy to give you this opportunity and we hope that the acquaintance with our Siberian region will be interesting, impressive, memorable and pleasant for you.

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Under the auspices of the Russian Embassy in Slovakia and with the support of the "Romanovs’ Art Gallery" the exhibition of photographic works consisting of 50 works by Alexander Kamakaev will continue its trip through Slovakia and will be exhibited in different cities of the Republic. According to the director of the "Romanovs’ Art Gallery", collector Valentina Romanova, who had greatly assisted in organizing the exposition in Žilina, the exhibition "Pristine Siberia " will help its visitors to become familiar with the spiritual world of indigenous Siberians: "The inhabitants of Siberia represent a great variety of ethnic groups, cultures and lifestyles. The exhibition gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the traditions that have emerged from the distant pagan past, and also to marvel at how a modern men, passing and preserving these values through the centuries, can now transmit them with special spirituality and love through their creativity".

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One of the results of the Krasnoyarsk delegation’s visit to Žilina was an agreement on the presentation of famous Slovak artists in the cultural space of our city. The mutual exchange of creative works and young talents between Žilina and Krasnoyarsk will continue in the framework of the International Charitable Creativity Festival "Children to Children". During the visit of the Krasnoyarsk delegation to Žilina, the Slovak participants of the festival, a total of 34 children and 15 teachers, were awarded with memorable gifts brought from Siberia. The Russian Embassy in Slovakia also thanked the children for participating in the creative project and presented each of them with a book with works of famous children’s writers in Russian.

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Within the framework of the visit, the Krasnoyarsk delegation also took part in the solemn ceremony dedicated to the liberation of the Slovak people from the German-fascist invaders by the Red Army in 1945. The ceremony took place at the Memorial of Russian Soldiers and was attended by the leaders of the Žilinsky Krai, the city of Žilina, representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the Union of anti-fascist fighters of Slovakia.

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In his address to the residents of Žilina, the Mayor of Krasnoyarsk Edkham Akbulatov noted: "The day of April 30th, 1945 was inherently included in the long chronicle of the city of Žilina as one of the most significant and solemn dates. On this day the troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front liberated Žilina from the Nazi invaders during the Moravia-Ostrava operation. In the battles for Žilina and the Žilinsky Krai, Czechoslovak and Soviet soldiers fought side by side, and among them were Krasnoyarsk citizens. Recently, the Krasnoyarsk search party "Vityaz" managed to identify the names of five of our townsmen who perished during the war near Zhilina. They are: Red Army soldier Nikolai Vedrov, junior sergeant Nikolai Veretnev, sergeant Mikhail Voityuk, senior sergeant Leonid Shlakov and Red Army soldier Efim Penkov. On behalf of the citizens of Krasnoyarsk, I express my heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the citizens of Žilina for preserving the memory of the events of the war years and for honoring the Russian heroes who fought for your city and country, for freedom and peace of the whole world."

In conclusion of the visit of the Krasnoyarsk delegation, the Mayor of Žilina Igor Homa promised support for the existing and planned sister city projects.