Financially, Ukraine's losses from Russia's military takeover of the Crimean peninsula are calculated in the billions of dollars – from lost natural resources to ruptured economic bonds.
But emotional losses are also high.
One of them is the Artek children’s camp, which was located for 91 years in Crimea near Gurzuf on the peninsula’s south coast. As one of the most famous children’s camps in the Soviet era, it was of immense cultural value to Ukraine.
But while Russia has stolen the camp’s physical infrastructure, the idea and philosophy of the camp have been saved — and now resides in a former sanatorium in Pushcha-Vodytsya, a leafy suburb of the Ukrainian capital.
And this summer, for the first time since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, the relocated Artek camp opened its doors to more than 300 children from all over Ukraine.
Old philosophy stays
Viktor Knush, the camp’s deputy general director, says that the old Artek camp site in Crimea has regressed to the old traditions of the former communist Artek camp.
That camp, which first opened in 1925, was one of the main bases of the Pioneers – the Soviet Communist Party’s youth organization. The camp’s spectacular coastal location right next to Ayu-Dag Mountain, known informally as Bear Mountain due to its shape, made it a favorite location, and during the Soviet era a vacation at the Artek camp was seen as a prestigious reward for every Soviet child.
Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, Ho Chi Minh, Indira Gandhi and first man in space Yuri Gagarin – all were special guests at the old Artek camp. The camp was also visited in 1983 by Samantha Smith, a girl from the United States who wrote a letter that prompted Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to invite her to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Despite the camp’s old location being stolen by the Kremlin, Artek Director Serhiy Kapustin says he and his team are trying to maintain the spirit of the world-famous Ukrainian camp, and its mission of bringing up decent and responsible citizens not only of Ukraine, but of the entire world.
Appeal to the world
By the end of this summer, Knush expects up to 1,000 children to have stayed at the camp. The Ukrainian government has purchased 90 percent of the tour packages to the camp, allocating more than Hr 20 million ($800,000) from the Ministry of Social Policy’s budget for this purpose.
Artek will remain open year-round. This winter the camp plans to invite children from more than 50 countries to an event entitled “Let’s Change the World for the Better.” At the event, children from various countries will draw up an appeal to the international community regarding problems that concern them. The document is to be recognized by the United Nations as an official appeal by the children of the world to world leaders and the heads of international organization.
The camp has already received distinguished visitors, including Ukrainian First Lady Maryna Poroshenko, who came to see the camp’s new location on June 24.
“It’s very symbolic that the first session of the camp is starting its work under the name ‘Under the flag of Dignity,’” the first lady said. “Like every one of us, an artekivets (a camp attendee) is a child who profess such values as peace, friendship, tolerance, patriotism and human dignity.”
Russian nationalism
Meanwhile, Kremlin propaganda depicts the former Artek camp in Crimea as a place that welcomes young people from Ukraine who have suffered due to Russia’s war against the Donbas. A section on the Russian camp’s website called “Artek-Mercy,” appeals to benefactors to donate money to support children’s trips to Crimea, where the children will be able to overcome “the fear, pain, stress, and loss” caused by the war.
Visitors to the Russian camp will take part in activities and festivals dedicated to Russia (one of the summer sessions this year is entitled “My Destiny – Russia”), undergoing a change of purpose from fostering international ties to encouraging Russian nationalism.
Russia’s theft of the camp’s property in Crimea has been decried by the Ukrainian authorities, although there is little the government can do about it for now.
Kyiv’s Obolon District Court ordered the arrest of the Artek camp’s property in Crimea and Sevastopol on May 6. The Russian-installed Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, was accused by the court of illegally seizing the Artek camp’s property and transferring it to Russian ownership.
Nevertheless, while Crimea remains under Russian occupation, there is little chance of the court’s ruling being respected and Artek returning to its old home.
In the meantime, the relocated camp’s management hopes to expand, accept more visitors and open satellite camps in various oblasts of Ukraine.
