Russia opens the doors to 186 countries for its 2017 Youth Festival in Sochi

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Organizers of the 2017 World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS), due to take place in October in Russia’s resort city of Sochi, said Thursday that they had received applications from young people from a record-breaking 186 countries willing to take part in the festival.

“The number of countries that registered to take part in the festival set the historical record ever seen during the preparations and in the whole history of the festival movement. A total of 186 countries have registered as of today,”

Vitaly Solonetsky, the head of the WFYS directorate for the work with members and international cooperation, said at a press conference in the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.

The total number of applications submitted by young people from foreign countries has reached 50,000, according to Solonetsky.

“That is a very significant number, it is growing now because the official campaign ended on June 10, after this date all young people, who submitted applications, get in a reserve list [of participants],”

Solonetsky said, adding that 62,559 Russian youngsters have expressed their desire to take part in the festival.

Russia has hosted the Youth Festivals twice.

The 19th World Festival of Youth and Students will unite young people from all over the world. It will be held on October 14-22.