One hundred young people from different regions of the two countries will take part in the annual project to preserve historical memory, the Deputy Federation Council Speaker said.
Deputy Federation Council Speaker Yury Vorobyov held the first meeting of the working group on preparations for the Russian-Belarusian Unconquered 2026 Youth Patriotic Expedition.
The Forum of Regions of Russia and Belarus supported the project which was successfully implemented last year with broad involvement of the federal and regional authorities of the two countries, as well as public and cultural organisations. The project is now an annual event.
This year, 100 young people from Russia and Belarus — representatives of different regions and ethnicities — will take part in the expedition, Yury Vorobyov said. The expedition will follow a new route connecting Russian and Belarusian cities such as Donetsk, Murmansk, Kandalaksha, Petrozavodsk, St Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Smolensk, Vitebsk, and Minsk.
According to the senator, as usual, the expedition will be timed to coincide with the celebration of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War and will also take place as part of the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, which gives it a special dimension. The programme includes visits to memorial sites and museums, meetings with veterans, public officials and civil society figures, and educational venues, as well as cultural and sporting events.
“The expedition will take place ahead of the 13th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia in Minsk. We look forward to the participants of the Unconquered Expedition taking part in this major event,” the senator said.
Addressing preparations for and implementation of the project, Yury Vorobyov emphasised the importance of strong coordination among all agencies in charge of the project and participating regions, and synchronising the logistics, security, media support and programme content.
The senator said the regions were showing strong interest in the project and stressed the importance of the selection stage to ensure that the expedition includes opinion leaders.
Welcoming remarks were delivered by initiator of the Unconquered Project and Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, and project coordinator and Senator representing the DPR Alexander Voloshin.
Project Programme Director Anastasia Anichina briefed the participants on the progress of preparations for the expedition.
The meeting was attended by State Secretary and Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs Anna Kotova; Deputy Minister of Culture Sergei Pershin; People’s Artist of Russia and Chairman of the Union of Theatre Workers Vladimir Mashkov; Director General of the Directorate of the World Youth Festival of the Russian Federation Dmitry Ivanov; Deputy Director of the Department of State Youth Policy and Educational Activities at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education Anna Braines; Director of the Young Professionals division of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to promote new projects Alexander Vaino; Executive Director of the Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia Sergei Kryukov; Head of the Department for International Sports, Youth Cooperation and Tourism at the Russian Foreign Ministry Konstantin Kolpakov; and representatives of the leadership of the Russian regions along the route of the Unconquered 2026 expedition.
Following the working group meeting, a draft expedition programme was approved as a basis and will be sent to the Belarusian side for discussion, Yury Vorobyov reported. In March 2026, a joint meeting with the Belarusian colleagues will be held, the senator said.