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Russian festival coming up

MOSCOW: Year-long national art festivals that Russia and India will exchange over the next two years will serve to rebuild cultural bonds between the two nations that weakened after the fall of the Soviet Union, Indian Council for Cultural Relations president Karan Singh said after finalising here the programme for the Year of Russia in India in 2008.

The Bolshoi Theatre, a Russian ballet on ice and a dozen other top music and dance groups will perform in Indian cities. The programme for the Year of Russia will include an exhibition of Russian contemporary art, fashion shows and food festivals. To reach out to the young, the Russian side will take to India a jazz band and pop groups.

Dr. Karan Singh discussed details of the Russia festival programme with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who co-chairs the Organisation Committee for the Years of Russia and India, Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov and other officials.

Separate programmes are planned in the States and cities that have sister ties with Russian regions and cities, such as Karnataka-Samara, Delhi-Moscow and Andhra Pradesh-Tatarstan. Seminars and other events covering economic, trade and scientific ties between India and Russia are planned.

Dr. Karan Singh expressed the hope that President Vladimir Putin would inaugurate the Year of Russia in India despite the fact that he is to step down in March next year.

During Dr. Karan Singh’s visit the sides signed a MoU on holding the festival of Indian culture in Russia in 2009. Officials of both countries claim that a tradition of exchanging cultural festivals is a unique feature of Indo-Russian relations and neither India nor Russia has a similar cultural enterprise with any other country.

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