Couples from the wedding festival "Russia. Uniting Hearts" to represent the country at IFY-2026
Young
couples who got married at the III All-Russian Wedding Festival "Russia.
Uniting Hearts" last summer will take part in the International Festival
of Youth — 2026 in Yekaterinburg. The newlyweds said that the invitation to the
festival was a unique opportunity for them to share important ideas with young
people from different regions and countries — that Russia is a country where
family and love are valued, traditions are respected and the future is built
together.
One of the invited couples is Sergei and Maria Klochkov from Volgograd. The
story of the young teachers and polyglots began back at school: Maria needed
help with computer science, and Sergei was the only one who understood it.
Their correspondence grew into walks together and later into a relationship.
The newlyweds believe that Russia can only truly be understood through its
people, and at the festival in Yekaterinburg they want to present the country
in exactly this way — through its traditions, family values and mutual respect.
"We would like to show Russia through its people: to talk about our
traditions, family values, how we celebrate holidays, how we build
relationships and simply how we live. Because Russia cannot be fully understood
through stereotypes or other people's accounts. It is far more interesting to
discover it through communication with real people," shared Maria
Klochkova.
Another couple is Maxim Kalinichenko and Sofia Akhmadishina. Maxim specialises
in horse transportation, while Sofia is an equestrian coach for children and
adults. The couple met at a contest in August 2025, and a few months later, on
New Year's Eve, Maxim proposed to his beloved.
"The International Festival of Youth is a very unusual and exciting event
for us because it gives us an opportunity to meet a great many people from
different countries, talk, exchange experiences and simply spend these few days
together. And it is especially meaningful for us to be part of this event as a
family that once became part of the wedding festival at the National Centre
RUSSIA," shared Maxim Kalinichenko.
The National Centre RUSSIA is taking part in the International Festival of
Youth programme from 13 to 17 September. The event features the flagship
Department Store RUSSIA project, where guests can purchase products from
Russian manufacturers and take part in workshops on traditional folk arts and
crafts from Russia's regions.
An important part of the National Centre RUSSIA programme at IFY-2026 will be
the events of the Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. A New Platform
for Global Growth", moderated by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of
the Presidential Executive Office of Russia. The programme will include a
presentation of global megatrends adapted for a young audience, as well as a
meeting and discussion with festival participants and young international
essayists from the Open Dialogue.
The International Industrial Trade Fair "INNOPROM. India", held at the Bharat Mandapam complex in New Delhi from 9 to 11 September, has concluded.
Siddharth Nigam, a well-known Indian actor, gymnast and popular blogger, was inspired by the National Centre RUSSIA stand at the International Industrial Trade Fair "INNOPROM. India".
The winners of the All-Russian Contest "Native Toy" in the "Game and Toy Ideas" category were selected at the second meeting of the Organising Committee on 11 September at the National Centre RUSSIA.
