The All-Russian New Year’s Eve action “Wish Tree” has opened in Russia for the fifth time. It started on November 10, 2022, and will last until February 28, 2023. This year, the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, as well as the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics joined it.
Children and elderly people with disabilities and life-threatening health conditions can take part in the campaign. Also, children from families with incomes below the subsistence minimum, from families whose members, including those mobilized, received a disability of the first group, are missing or died during a special operation, as well as children registered in the territory of the new regions of the Russian Federation, can also become participants of the action.
As part of the campaign, the Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, Maksim Shaskolsky, fulfilled Dmitry Grigoriev‘s dream of a trip to St. Petersburg.
During the trip Dmitry visited, in particular, the Palace Square, the Neva Embankment, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Hermitage, where he met with the Director of the Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky. Dmitry said that the Catherine Palace turned out to be the most interesting attraction for him.
The Head of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Anton Siluanov, fulfilled the wish of a ten-year-old boy from Oryol, Igor Kashtanov, to go on an excursion to the cartoon creation studio.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Chernyshenko, invited 13-year-old Alexandra Panchenko from Primorsky Krai, who wants to visit Mamayev Kurgan, to Volgograd, where this memorial complex is located.
“Alexandra, I am very glad that you have such a wish. It is important that you and many other guys are interested in the history of Russia. It would be great if they would give you a tour inside the ‘Motherland’ sculpture itself, there is an opportunity to go upstairs. Then, please, tell us about your impressions,” Chernyshenko said during a video call with Alexandra and her mother.
Military pilots of the Tver Military Transport Aviation unit fulfilled a boy’s wish to visit a military airfield and fly on an IL-76MD aircraft as part of the “Wish Tree” campaign. To make the young pilot’s dream come true, the crew took Nikita to a joint training session on the IL-76MD aircraft simulator, where he was able to perform his first training flight.
“During the flight, Nikita was able to fly over his hometown of Tver. The flight on the simulator is realistic because of the image displayed on the panoramic screen and sound accompaniment with the full operation of the entire instrument panel of the aircraft,” the military department noted.
In addition, the pilots presented Nikita with a prefabricated model of the Russian Il-76MD military transport aircraft and sweet gifts.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, took three postcards with the wishes of the participants of the action from the Christmas tree: eight-year-old Alexandra Titarenko from the Zaporozhye region, who dreamed of visiting the Crimea and the house of Father Frost, seven-year-old David Shmelev from the Stavropol Territory, who wanted to go to Moscow to the Military Academy of the Armed Forces of Russia, and eight-year-old Agata Bylkova from Kurgan region with a wish to see the northern lights and ride a reindeer sled.
An Arctic vacation has already been organized for Agata Bylkova and her family members from December 30, 2022, to January 4, 2023. The programme included the ceremony of crossing the Arctic Circle and watching cartoons in the cinema, visiting the natural and ethnographic complex “Gornoknyazevsk”: meeting and riding an all-terrain vehicle with the Yamal Father Frost, horseback riding, acquaintance with the Yamal-Nenets District Museum and Exhibition complex named after I. S. Shemanovsky, as well as hunting for the Northern lights and reindeer sledding in the ice town.
Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Government of Russia, Dmitry Grigorenko, fulfilled the dream of Victoria Ilyina from Samara to visit the editorial office of Children’s Radio in Moscow.
The radio hosts gave the girl a tour of the radio station, told her about his profession and the peculiarities of working on the radio. In addition, the girl took part in a live broadcast of one of the programmes “Musical Greetings”. According to the girl, she liked the magic bell presented to her on the programme, with which you can make wishes.
The Head of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), Yuri Zubov, fulfilled the dream of Magdi Hasanov from Stavropol about his own telescope.
Along with the telescope, the boy received a map of the starry sky. In turn, Magdi thanked the organizers for the gift and congratulated everyone on the New Year.
The Minister of Education of Russia, Sergey Kravtsov, and the Minister of Culture of Russia, Olga Lyubimova, also fulfilled the dreams of children as part of the charity event.
The Minister of Culture presented the girl from Mariupol with an acoustic guitar, and the Head of the Ministry of Education organized for the nine-year-old Yaroslav from Moscow a trip on a retro train and an excursion to the Izmailovo electric depot of the Moscow Metro.
Dmitry Patrushev, the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, fulfilled the wish of 11-year-old Maria Shevlyagina from Moscow to attend a circus performance. The girl attended the show at the Moscow Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, and also got behind the scenes.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, fulfilled the dream of Maksim Kuznetsov from Moscow, who made a wish to visit inside a submarine. It turned out that the boy’s father is a sailor, and the boy himself is fond of assembled models of the “Zvezda” company.
“Let’s try, we will get a set for assembling models, Maksim will make it, and we will put it here in the museum [of the Russian Foreign Ministry],” the Minister suggested.
After the meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, Maksim went on an excursion that took place inside the 90-meter diesel submarine B-396 “Novosibirsk Komsomolets”, which is an exhibit of the Museum of the History of the Russian Navy.
Lavrov also helped realize the dream of a boy from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Ivan Bragin, who will go on a balloon flight.
“Sergey Viktorovich, thank you for fulfilling my dream,” Ivan said during a meeting with the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Krasnoyarsk, Artem Zakharov, who handed the boy a certificate for the flight.
The girl Daria from Izhevsk received a gift from the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu. She wanted to get a pilot’s helmet and attend the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow.
“The protective flight helmet was delivered to Izhevsk and handed over to Daria. The cherished gift to the girl was given by the director of the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Defense of Russia Artem Gorny,” the department noted.
On the helmet, airbrushers painted a Su-35 fighter in flight. Also, Daria and her family were invited to Moscow for the Victory Parade and presented with a copy of the panel “Victory Parade – 1945”, made by the author’s team of the Studio of Military Artists named after M. B. Grekov.
The servicemen of the Army Corps of the Eastern Military District fulfilled the wishes of children who found themselves in a difficult life situation. In almost all the letters, the young participants of the action dreamed of riding on military equipment.
“The ‘Christmas Tree of Wishes’ charity event was held in all formations and military units of the region. Envelopes were hung on the branches of Christmas trees with the wishes of children who found themselves in a difficult life situation: those left without parental care, with disabilities or living in large families. The wishes of most of the children coincided, almost all of them dreamed of riding in a real military car or tank. In addition to fulfilling a cherished dream, every child received a sweet gift and a toy from Father Frost,” the message says.
Eight-year-old Mohammed Abdulaev from Makhachkala received a gift – a musical synthesizer from the acting governor of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky.
“The boy does not speak, but has a musical ear, loves music, and dreamed of a synthesizer. Now Mohammed is undergoing treatment in the Astrakhan region, and that’s where the synthesizer went,” Balitsky informed.
It is specified that the Zaporozhye region participates for the first time in the All-Russian New Year’s Eve action.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov, fulfilled the New Year’s wish of a girl from Mariupol and handed her a tablet, as well as a laptop and a gaming chair was given to a boy from Donetsk.
The press service said that Milena‘s family was constantly in Mariupol during the fighting. Their house survived, but as a result of the shelling, windows were knocked out and some items were damaged, including a tablet.
The press service said that Roma, to whom the governor handed over a laptop and a gaming chair, is currently undergoing rehabilitation and is learning to sit and walk again, as on August 5, he came under fire, received many injuries, spent 1.5 months in intensive care, and underwent two operations.
The article also notes that earlier Vorobyov fulfilled the dream of 12-year-old Nika from Skhodnya, a visually impaired person from birth. The girl was able to swim with dolphins.
The Head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, fulfilled the wishes of children from Dagestan and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) as part of the New Year’s charity event.
It is noted that children’s desires are mainly related to the purchase of educational materials, musical instruments, hobby goods, children’s toys and digital or sports equipment.
The acting governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, presented boxing gloves and a training bag to a 13-year-old resident of Genichesk as part of the New Year’s charity event. According to him, the boy had already achieved some success in cycling, was engaged in judo.
“But when he outgrew his mother by a head, he decided that boxing was the real sport for him. In this I warmly support him. I took a promise from him, like a boxer from a boxer, that he would train hard, but also please his mother in everything else, since no one has canceled the obligation of schoolchildren to study diligently,” added Saldo.
Aeroflot’s First Deputy Director General for Commerce and Finance, Andrey Chikhanchin, fulfilled the dream of seven-year-old Pavel from Togliatti, who wanted to visit the cockpit of a real airplane, as part of the “Wish Tree” campaign.
Aeroflot not only provided him with an opportunity to visit the cockpit, but also to fly on a real full-flight simulator of the Airbus A350 aircraft.
Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, fulfilled the dream of 10-year-old Ramin Pavlenko from Krasnodar Krai about a tennis table. The Prime Minister also added a racket from the four-time world champion from China, Fan Zhendong, to the sports equipment.
Mishustin offered the boy to try out the inventory right away and played a game with the boy in one of the halls of the Government House.
All the younger members of the boys family also received New Year’s gifts from the Prime Minister: paints, an e-book, and a set for needlework.
The commander of the airborne troops, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, realized the dream of a six-year-old girl Alexandra from the town of Sosenskoye, Kaluga Region, and bought her a new bicycle as a gift.
Also, the military department reported that the Head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, took part in the action and fulfilled the wish of Yevgeny Lysenko, a young army member from the detachment named after Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K.Timoshenko and his brother Dmitry, giving them a hockey goalie kit, a goalie’s stick and an electronic designer “Znatok”.
Ru-Main, 04.01.2023
Source: TASS
Cover Picture: Izvestia
