It was not the kind of welcome-back package the returning students at Moscow's Energy Institute were expecting, so when they opened their "souvenir" packs Monday to find free condoms, many of them broke out laughing.


"It's not the contents that are funny. It's just that they've never done anything like this before," said Alyosha, a second-year student who was waiting for his monthly metro pass when he was handed the condoms instead. "This was completely unexpected."


The 1,000 souvenir packs, which, along with the condoms contained an anti-AIDS decal and an information pamphlet on sexually transmitted diseases, were distributed by "A Future Without AIDS," a new charitable organization that made its public debut Monday morning.


"We couldn't have done this two years ago -- the students would have laughed and walked away," said Natalya Mochalina, press secretary for the women's charitable group. "Now they are more prepared and better educated about sex," she said.


They may still have been laughing, but they were not walking away. After an initially shy reception, the students, ranging in age from 18 to 23, started to come up and ask for the "souvenirs" on their own. "Don't get me wrong -- I think it's a good idea to distribute this information," said Alyosha, adding that he and his friends were already pretty knowledgeable on the subject of AIDS.


But just because students know more -- or say they do -- about sexually transmitted diseases, it doesn't mean they are using condoms to protect themselves from infection. While the number of officially reported AIDS cases in Russia is still incredibly low, the incidence of syphilis has risen by more than 150 percent in the past year, according to Health Ministry statistics. And, according to a recent report published in a medical newspaper, the vast majority of STD patients are between the ages of 21 and 25.


"The biggest problem is that condoms are still extremely unpopular in Russia," said Marina Nikitina, who runs a youth education program for the private AIDS outreach organization AESOP.


"It is particularly interesting that they claim to know everything about AIDS, but still say they don't need condoms," said Nikitina. "They say they know their sexual partners well enough -- even if there are a lot of them."


It is not enough to give away the condoms, Nikitina said, but to convince people to use them. However, even without the hard sell, she still admits it is a positive step that students have greater access to information about AIDS.


And once they stop laughing, they may learn something. "We'll share this with our entire group," said two grinning fourth-year students who had collected a huge pile of souvenir packs. "We'll be the great enlighteners."