📸 In 2024, Russia will host the 5th International Photo Contest “Mother and Children in National Costumes” organized by the NGO “International Women's Union”.

🖋 The aim of the competition held under the auspices of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO with the support of the Federal Agency for Nationalities of Russia is to strengthen intra-family and intergenerational relations, to preserve and develop the ethnocultural diversity of the peoples of Russia, the CIS countries and abroad as well as to create a unique platform for uniting the peoples around world through the presentation of national costumes.

🆕 This year, its Steering Committee approved a new nomination — the vocal competition "Lullaby Song in the Native Language."

❗️Applications for participation in the photo contest are accepted till September 2024.

🔗 More details

🌿 On April 27, the house church in honor of St Thomas the Apostle at the Russian Embassy in India hosted a Palm Sunday service at which willows (palm branches) were blessed.

🇷🇺 🤝 🇮🇳 On April 26, an agreement on scientific cooperation between the Nikitsky Botanical Garden — National Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (NBG) and the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology was concluded in Kanpur.

✍️ On behalf of the Russian side, the document was signed by NBG Director Yuri Plugatar. According to the Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, the parties are also discussing the possibility of opening a permanent representative office of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden in India.

👥 The NBG is also negotiating a similar agreement with the Punjab Agricultural University.

🌱 During the Soviet era, the Nikitsky Botanical Garden had close contacts with its Indian counterparts. Currently, this partnership starts to revive.