Belarus and Russia unite media forces for 2026 Youth Forum in Yekaterinburg
Minsk-Novosti and Oblastnaya Gazeta to Jointly Cover 2026 International Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg
Two of Belarus's leading media holdings, Minsk-Novosti and Oblastnaya Gazeta (OG), have agreed to collaborate in covering the preparations and proceedings of the International Youth Festival, scheduled for September 2026 in Yekaterinburg. The agreement was reached during a meeting between OG Editor-in-Chief Alexander Lakedemonsky and Andrei Bass, First Deputy Director General of Minsk-Novosti. The partners will also continue their cooperation on interstate and international projects.
The comprehensive partnership agreement, signed by OG and Minsk-Novosti in October 2022, includes provisions for exchanging content on events held under intergovernmental cultural exchange programs and trade and economic partnerships. Given the close ties between the two fraternal nations—and the sister-city relationship between Minsk and Yekaterinburg—this collaboration is both timely and significant.
Readers have shown great interest in materials prepared by their Ural colleagues, including coverage of the 80th anniversary of Belarus's liberation from Nazi occupation, thematic reports on Belarusian participation in the INNOPROM International Industrial Exhibition, and recent features on the Belarusian Youth Theater's performances in the Sverdlovsk region as part of the Big Tour project. There was also strong engagement with interviews featuring Belarusian athletes who competed in the Tagilskaya Stal international ski jumping and Nordic combined events. "And that's just what comes to mind first," notes Andrei Bass, who is attending the 16th Eurasian Youth Economic Forum in the Urals.
Oblastnaya Gazeta and Minsk-Novosti have also agreed to jointly produce thematic coverage of the International Youth Forum, highlighting Belarus's plans for the event. "We can already say that Belarus will have a strong presence in Yekaterinburg this September," Bass confirmed, adding that preparations for the delegation's visit are underway.
The Belarusian delegation will include representatives from the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, leading universities, working professionals, vocational colleges, schools, and gymnasiums. "In turn, we would greatly appreciate your support in covering their participation at the forum," Bass added.
Cooperation between the parties will also continue as part of humanitarian projects. At the request of Sergei Pavlenko, head of the Sverdlovsk branch of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, Alexander Lakedemonsky provided Andrei Bass with a list of names of Belarusian natives who fell in the 1942–1943 Battle of the Caucasus and were buried in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic.
This effort is part of the ongoing search for relatives of Red Army soldiers from various regions and former Soviet republics who perished in the Caucasus during the Great Patriotic War. The initiative, titled "I've Returned, Mother…", is an international patriotic campaign aimed at preserving historical memory. In addition to the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, the Veterans of the SVO and CTO Foundation is actively involved in the project in our region.
Earlier, Oblastnaya Gazeta reported that the federal program "Grand Tours" has, for the second year, been fostering cultural ties between the Urals and the Republic of Belarus.
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