On June 21 the 10th jubilee Belarusian-Russian Youth Forum was solemnly opened in Brest. Forum delegates were representatives of youth public organizations, leaders of youth movements, students, representatives of state bodies of Belarus and Russia, guests of honor laid flowers at the Eternal Flame of the memorial “Brest Fortress – Hero”.
They also visited the “Victory Train” mobile museum – the joint project of Belarusian and Russian railway workers. Its unique interactive exposition is dedicated to the feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.
Grigory Petushkov, the Chairman of the National Youth Council of Russia, warmly welcomed forum participants at the opening ceremony. According to him, the forum proved to be in demand and effective. For 10 years more than 750 people have become participants in its events!
Since 2014, the forum has been included in the Joint Action Plan of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in the field of state youth policy.
The National Council proposed to call the site the Youth Forum of the Union State from 2023. The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on Education, Science, Culture and Social Development, member of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly on Social and Youth Policy, Science, Culture and Humanitarian Affairs Viktor Sirenko supported this initiative.
Grigory Petushkov presented co-organizers of the forum – the Belarusian Republican Youth Union with a memorable gift on the occasion of the anniversary.
The plenary session “Common historical and cultural heritage of Russia and Belarus. Youth Initiatives” was held in the atmosphere of lively discussion. Within the framework of it, projects and modern studies of young historians were presented, participants discussed problems of preserving historical memory and interaction with representatives of military historical reconstruction clubs and search teams.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Public Association “Belarusian Republican Youth Union” Alexander Lukyanov presented the international historical and patriotic project “Digital Star”. This is an initiative of the Youth Chamber at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia. The virtual resource will have a personal account through which any user can take part in the preservation of historical memory.
Andrey Groznetsky, the political scientist, publicist, member of the Public Chamber of the Moscow Region, the Deputy Chairman of the commission on communications, information policy and openness of power, spoke about modern approaches to preserving historical memory.
The project manager of the Directorate of International Programs of the All-Russian Public Movement “Volunteers of Victory” Valeria Marchenko made a presentation of the “Volunteers of Victory” movement.
Sophia Kiparisova, the member of the Council of Young Scientists of the Ryazan State Agrotechnological University named after P.A. Kostychev, the associate professor of the Russian language department, the Head of the literary association of the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School, spoke about the system of military-patriotic education of students and cadets of higher educational institutions.
As a part of the work in sections forum participants assessed the role of the media in the new information reality, discussed the place of patriotism in the value system of modern youth in Belarus and Russia.
On June 22 delegates met at the walls of the Memorial Complex “Brest Fortress – Hero”. Here, on the Day of Memory and Sorrow, the meeting-requiem dedicated to the 81st anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War was held. Participants and guests of honor laid flowers and wreaths at the Eternal Flame.
In the second half of the day results of the forum were summed up. Its resolution was adopted. It took into account many of the ideas expressed during the plenary session and the work in sections.
Participants acknowledged the successful work of the 10th Belarusian-Russian Youth Forum and expressed gratitude for the assistance in holding it to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the National Youth Council of Russia and MIREA – Russian Technological University.
It was proposed to continue holding annual Russian-Belarusian youth forums and organize the forum in 2023 in the Russian Federation.
Participants called for special attention to be paid to supporting youth initiatives aimed at preserving historical memory and preventing the falsification of history and the revision of results of the Second World War. Public organizations of our countries were recommended to adopt successful practices of implementing youth policy from each other.
Participants initiated the creation of an archive based on results of 10 years of the forum.
