On this bright Friday Elyx has arrived in the capital of the Russian Federation, Moscow’s Red Square which is recorded in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Here, Elyx was relishing the colourful Saint Basil’s Cathedral that majestically rises into the sky. It is also in this city that most of the UN agencies are located and that Elyx was welcomed by UNIC Russia staff. They offered Elyx some national specialities to celebrate the UN’s 70th anniversary and informed the digital ambassador that this year there were also several exhibitions and events organized as a part of the anniversary celebrations: In April, a special XXV Moscow International United Nations Model was held and an All-Russian “Letter to the President” contest was organized. In addition, a special television program on the UN is released, in order to advice the public of the UN’s activities.
The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, commonly known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral, is a church in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. A world famous landmark, it was built from 1555–1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan.
Next to these festivities, Elyx discovers that Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, is holding the presidency of the UN Security Council this month. He took the rotating presidency over of Nigeria. This month’s agenda that will be dominated by three main topics: 1) reaching solutions to regional conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, 2) discussing President Putin’s proposal for a United Front against the Islamic State in the war on terror, and 3) conferring about the humanitarian situation in Syria.
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- “The Seven Sisters” are a group of seven skyscrapers in Moscow designed in 1940s – 1950s. Muscovites call them Vysotki or Stalinskie Vysotki. They were built in an elaborate combination of Russian Baroque and Gothic styles.
After a relaxed but informative morning, Elyx participated in the The PEP workshop, hold in Irkutsk. The PEP (the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme) encourages green and healthy mobility and transport for sustainable livelihoods for all and is promoted by UNECE and the WHO/Europe.
The main goal of the THE PEP Annual Workshop is to bring together national and international experts with the aim of promoting the exchange of ideas, knowledge and best practices in the field of sustainable urban transport planning and mobility management in cities. In the Russian Federation, it is estimated that the annual socio-economic damage associated with traffic jams and the worsening of environmental conditions due to mobile sources of emissions reaches 5-7 % GDP. With this in mind, Elyx climbs on top of one of the “Seven Sisters” skyscrapers located in Moscow. From up here, Elyx caught sight of Russia’s skyline and labyrinth of streets, and takes off to Belarus.
Elyx tests out a bike at the PEP Annual Workshop.
More Photos of Elyx in Russia (Full Flickr Gallery)
