COUNTRY:  RUSSIA.

Educational Project to Be Held in St. Petersburg

On 24 October at 15:00, the semi-final of the annual “Innovative Diplomacy” educational project will take place at the “Chinese Simply” school (8 Bolshaya Konyushennaya St.). The project is organised by the private educational institution “Chinese Simply,” with the concept developed by its founder, Aida Otradnykh.

Launched in 2021, the project is not state diplomacy: it is a competition for schoolchildren and university students that teaches them to view international relations through the lens of technology, culture, and instruments of influence. Participants analyse real foreign-policy cases, work with sources, propose their own solutions, and build roadmaps.

The competition runs in several stages throughout the year across four thematic tracks: digital and technological diplomacy; politics and history; science, education, and exchange; and culture and media as instruments of international dialogue. Public project defences are traditionally held with experts from universities, business, NGOs, and cultural centres.

The competition also includes diplomatic internships: in 2026, a month-long trip to China (Lanzhou) was held for participants aged 14–21. This year’s semi-final will bring together students from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, and Perm.

Participants of the semi-final:

  1. Natalia Nechaeva — St. Petersburg

  2. Artemy Khoroshavin — Krasnodar

  3. Alexey Lopukhin — Moscow

  4. Alisa Glukhova — Kazan

  5. Elena Mukhina — Yekaterinburg

  6. Mikhail Reshetnikov — St. Petersburg

  7. Nikolay Trifonov — Moscow

  8. Mark Lotvinov — Sestroretsk

  9. Arina Yelsukova — St. Petersburg

  10. Ilya Kharitonov — St. Petersburg

  11. Ivan Kuznetsov — St. Petersburg

  12. Agata Shrainer — St. Petersburg

  13. Alisa Shkatova — St. Petersburg

  14. Kirill Kolchanov — St. Petersburg

  15. Sofia Kurash — St. Petersburg

  16. Maria Soina — St. Petersburg

  17. Sofia Panina — St. Petersburg

  18. Alexander Umnov — St. Petersburg

  19. Leyla Terieva — St. Petersburg

  20. Oksana Velikzhaninova — St. Petersburg

  21. Konstantin Kuryshev — St. Petersburg

  22. Maria Mikhailidi — St. Petersburg

  23. Lucas Magoffin — St. Petersburg

  24. Amira Galeeva — Kazan

  25. Anna Lushkina — Arkhangelsk

Photo Source: Chinese Simply