Moscow drops more than $15 million on initiatives to 'culturally integrate' annexed Ukrainian regions
The Russian Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives spent 953 million rubles (approximately $15.5 million) on a competition dedicated to “culturally integrating” the regions of Ukraine that were annexed by Moscow in September, according to the news outlet Siren.
The contests’ winners included a festival called Russian Summer: For Russia, which received 109 million rubles (approximately $1.8 million), and a classic literature festival for schoolchildren called Generation Z, which was given 35 million rubles (approximately $568,000). The contest had a total of 143 winners, according to its official website.
This was the fourth contest held by the Presidential Fund since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The first three contests cost the government 625 million rubles (more than $10 million), according to Siren.
