Russia's deputy culture minister has named Crimea as a place all of the nation's schoolchildren should visit, in Moscow's latest attempt to strengthen citizens' ties with the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine a year ago.
Other destinations that the government advises school children to visit before they graduate are likely to change over the next few years, but Crimea will remain among the top three, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg, Deputy Culture Minister Alla Manilova said, TASS reported.
"Our goal is to have every Russian child visit Crimea, and not just the beaches," she was quoted as saying.
The government first started recommending holiday itineraries to the nation's schoolchildren two years ago, when they were advised to visit St. Petersburg, Manilova said, TASS reported.
At that time, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky noted that the Soviet Union offered schoolchildren trips to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Lenta.ru news portal reported.
Crimea was added to the list of recommended destinations last year, joining Moscow, Tatarstan's capital Kazan, Leo Tolstoy's former estate at Yasnaya Polyana, and the Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Manilova was quoted as saying.
This year, Oryol, Kursk, Belgorod and the Bryansk region were added to the list due to their status as centers of resistance during World War II. Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany on a grand scale earlier this month.
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