MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. As many as 92% of foreign guests want to return to Russia after taking part in the International Festival of Youth, head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, Rosmolodezh, Grigory Gurov said.

A survey was conducted at the festival venue, with 1,987 people taking part. The sample included 961 foreign festival participants, 792 Russian participants and 234 residents of Yekaterinburg.

"The International Festival of Youth allowed us to show foreign participants the real Russia, without imposed stereotypes, its openness and hospitality. Based on our survey, 99.5% of foreign participants said they experienced a sense of happiness from visiting Russia, while 92% are ready to come back after taking part in the International Festival of Youth - 2026. It is also telling how the participants themselves embraced Russian culture: the song "Matushka Zemlya" ("Mother Earth") became the Festival’s unofficial people’s anthem, young people from around the world learned the song "Katyusha," while they recited poems by Pushkin, Fet and Tyutchev during excursions around Yekaterinburg," Rosmolodezh’s press service quoted Gurov as saying.

According to the survey, 80% of respondents had a positive view of Russia before the festival, compared with 95% afterward. At the same time, the share of those who viewed the country "very positively" increased from 42% to 67%.

In addition, foreign participants said they envied young people living in Russia and the opportunities available to them. Some 68% of foreign participants admire Russia, while 28% said they felt inspired by it after taking part in the International Festival of Youth - 2026. Russian participants, meanwhile, most often cited pride in their country as their main emotion, with 97% of respondents saying they experienced this feeling.

The International Festival of Youth was held in Yekaterinburg from September 11 to 17 under the motto "Follow Your Dream." It was attended by 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries, including 5,000 from Russia and 5,000 from foreign countries. The program also saw 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 take part. TASS is the event’s general information partner.