The Russian government has boosted its funding of Artek, a giant Soviet-era children's holiday camp in Crimea, by 350 million rubles ($9.5 million), after the Ukraine withdrew support from the center following Moscow's annexation of the peninsula in March.
An order raising Moscow's contribution from 850 million to 1.2 billion rubles was published on the government's website Wednesday.
The children's camp, founded in 1925 and under UNESCO aegis since 2007, sprawls over 208 hectares. It hosts thousands of children from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries every year, although its popularity has waned since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Moscow intended to invest a total of 21 billion rubles ($568 million) in Artek, which Education Minister Dmitry Livanov said would become a center of Russian learning and pedagogical practice.
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