Milos Bikovich at the Marathon Znanie.Pervye: “Russia and Serbia have the same cultural code”

Serbian and Russian actor Milos Bikovich spoke at the educational marathon Znanie.Pervye of the Russian Knowledge Society, which takes place from March 2 to 6 as part of the World Youth Festival in Sirius. The theme chosen for this meeting was “A Serb with a Russian soul.” Communication with the actor aroused vivid emotions among young people, who sought to find out from Bikovich his opinion on a variety of issues and thanked him for his enormous contribution to the dialogue between the Balkans and Russia. Milos Bikovich's performance took place on March 5 in the Kazan Pavilion of the World Youth City. 

Milos Bikovich is well known both in Serbia and in Russia, where he became a citizen in 2021. The actor emphasized that, in fact, his interest in Russia awoke much earlier thanks to Russian literature.

“When I started reading Russian writers, I felt as if someone had pointed a flashlight at some corners of my subconscious and illuminated my unconscious thoughts. That is, I perceived Russian literature as something very close and dear. Then I got acquainted with Russian theater and cinema, and I finally fell in love with Russia,” said Milos Bikovich.

According to the actor, Russia and Serbia have the same cultural code and very similar values. In particular, the actor noted that both countries paradoxically combine tradition and progressiveness.

“I think a feature of our common cultural code is the ability to accept people with different views, the ability to forgive and love even an enemy,” he emphasized.

The marathon participants were interested in the actor’s attitude to creativity, modern culture, charity and many other things. Among the audience there were many young people from the Balkans. 

Answering a question from Elizaveta from Croatia, Milos Bikovich noted that the film “Hotel Belgrade” was an excellent way to introduce Russian viewers to the nature and culture of Serbia, and emphasized that he would like to see more such projects, because the Balkan countries have something to show the world. And the dialogue with Anastasia from Togliatti unexpectedly resonated with the theme of the program track “Saving the family for future generations.” A marathon participant asked how the actor copes with jetlag after flights.

“You know, I used to think that I wasn’t getting enough sleep. Changing time zones is, of course, very difficult. But recently I had a son, and I realized that until now I had no real problems with sleep. Now I think that every woman who has given birth to a child should have a monument erected. So, mothers of the world, low bow to all of you,” replied Milos Bikovich.

A marathon participant named Yuliana read out in poetry a question about how a teenager can find his calling.

“You need to awaken your curiosity. If I'm not mistaken, the word means love of trying. That is, you have to try everything. And you also need to listen to yourself. What do you like and what don't you like? In your search for a calling, your parents should be your allies. Usually it is mom and dad who notice the first manifestations of talent in a child: “Look, he’s been drawing for two hours already, we need to enroll him in an art school!” - explained Milos Bikovich.

The meeting of the famous actor and young people at the  Znanie.Pervye marathon was held as part of the track "Saving the family for future generations".

The "Znanie" society is a general partner of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, and the educational marathon "Znanie.Pervye" is one of the main events of this program. The most striking presentations of lecturers can be seen on the 24-hour media channel Znanie.TV.

Also on March 5, on the fourth day of the educational marathon Znanie.Pervye, the lecturers of the thematic track were the Commissioner for the Rights of the Child of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova, the head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, the Director General of the Roscosmos State Corporation Yuri Borisov, the Chairman of the Board of PJSC " Sberbank" German Gref and many others.

Educational marathon takes place in Sirius from March 2 to 6 and covers six sites of the World Youth City: WYF International Airport, Yamal, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Belgorod, and Moscow pavilions. The tracks of the educational marathon are consonant with the meanings of the Festival: “Responsibility for the fate of the world”, “Multinational unity”, “A world of opportunity for everyone”, “Saving the family for future generations” and “We stand together with Russia”.

Alongside the educational marathon "Znanie.Pervye," within the educational program of the World Youth Festival, the Knowledge Society organized the intellectual tournament "Znanie.Igra" with participants from different countries and the lecture series "Znanie.Kino", where viewers could watch legendary Russian films and discuss them with famous actors and directors. For the Festival participants a multimedia exhibition of the National Photo Contest Znanie.Russia will work, where they will be able to see the main achievements of Russia in the XXI century and immerse themselves in their atmosphere with the help of augmented reality technology.

The World Youth Festival shall become a platform for communication between young people from Russia and other countries. After the completion of the events on the Sirius Federal Territory, Russian Knowledge Society will continue the educational line of the World Youth Festival from March 10 to 17 within the framework of the regional program WYF 2024, which will cover all federal districts of our country.

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Overview:

The World Youth Festival is held in accordance with the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the Organizing Committee chaired by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, it was decided to hold the Festival in the Sirius Federal Territory.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old had the opportunity to join the event, including 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 residents of the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions be involved in the organization and delivery of the Festival. The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF-2024 is the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.

The first federal education marathon was held in May 2021 and became a symbol of the reboot of the Russian Knowledge Society. More than 850 lecturers shared their experience during the marathon.

The Russian Knowledge Society traces its history back to the Soviet public organization founded in 1947 on the initiative of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge (since 1963 — the All-Union Knowledge Society, since 1991— the Knowledge of Russia Society). Members of the Society were engaged in popularizing science and lecturing on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry. In 2016, Knowledge of Russia was transformed into the Russian Knowledge Society. On April 21, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to restart the Russian Knowledge Society on a modern digital platform in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.