On December 9, the opening ceremony of the Legatus Youth Diplomacy Center was held in Donetsk. According to the correspondent of the official website of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Center’s goal is to coordinate the work of students in the field of international cooperation, education in the field of geopolitics, expanding the geography of youth contacts with representatives of foreign countries, as well as studying the patterns of international relations’ development.

The opening ceremony of the Youth Diplomacy Center was attended by deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, coordinator of the Russia-Donbass Integration Committee Andrei Kozenko, DPR Minister for Foreign Affairs Natalya Nikonorova, DPR Minister for Education and Science Mikhail Kushakov, Head of the DPR Representative Center in Italy Eliseo Bertolazi, Head of the DPR Representative Center in Finland, Johan Bäckman, deputies of the DPR People’s Council Vladislav Berdichevsky and Kirill Makarov, and other invited persons.

“This is indeed a very timely, relevant and important initiative of our student community to establish such a center. The Donetsk People’s Republic has survived, it exists. And now we are to shoulder the important strategic task to establish the DPR as a full-fledged subject of international relations. In this regard, the need is long over due to establish a permanent platform for a full-fledged dialogue between our youth and students’ community and relevant youth and student organizations around the world. I would like to draw attention to the fact that  international interaction forms’ transformation is ongoing in the modern world, and therefore the development of youth diplomacy and public diplomacy is very important,” Natalya Nikonorova said.

“I think this is a very good undertaking, a promising one. This is a certain platform for informal business communication, which will allow you to interact within the current agenda, make serious decisions on most acute, most urgent and, one might say, most mature issues. I want you to have some real projects formed aimed at consolidating the DPR in the international community,” Andrei Kozenko advised future diplomats.

For the first time, the need to create a Center for Youth Diplomacy in Donetsk was stated in May 2019. This exclusively youth initiative quickly found support of senior officials of the DPR Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

“The DPR is famous for its highly developed civil society. We have enough public organizations, movements, associations that cover all social groups. However, the Center for Youth Diplomacy is a unique project of its kind, which is designed to unite all young people in the framework of scientific and educational activities in the public diplomacy field. We very much hope that it will be successfully implemented,” Karina Pavluchkova, Director of the Legatus Youth Diplomacy Center, said.