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The President was accompanied by head of the International Union of KVN Alexander Maslyakov and Governor of Kaliningrad Region Nikolai Tsukanov. Before the meeting, Vladimir Putin watched a video with excerpts of team performances.

The building of the Yantar Kholl variety theatre in Svetlogorsk was restored for holding KVN festivals. The Wailing KiViN Festival was held in Jurmala between 1996 and 2014.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: I would like to congratulate you on your new location. First of all, of course, those who organise KVN, but also those who love this game and those who are engaged in it at practically or almost a professional level.

 I think this should be interesting. It is essentially opening a new region – even if it is not new for us – but I suppose it is new for KVN.

 Of course, it’s too bad that certain unpromising barriers are being created in some of our neighbouring countries. I hope that this will end soon. But we have our own platforms that are being developed actively. We will continue to give the necessary attention to developing Kaliningrad Region. I am confident this will be a very popular place.

 Just now, the governor was telling us that last year, over a million people – 1.4 million Russian tourists – visited here. This is ultimately a sign that infrastructure is being created; not as quickly as we would like, but it is developing. This is a very good area with a temperate, seaside climate, and it is beautiful here. And when more facilities like this appear here, including hotels, people will visit. And this means that you will also be more comfortable here – you and those who will come after you.

 This is a fairly easy location to reach for people from Central Europe, those who love KVN, and those who enjoy participating in it. I know that there were some problems on the border. We will try to eliminate them and ensure that there are no problems from our end.

 You know, I was just at the bid for the 2018 Football World Cup and yesterday we opened the world championships in swimming. What we are doing there is facilitating visa-free travel for those who hold tickets to the World Cup. We can come up with something for KVN as well.

 Kaliningrad is a new platform for you. I think it is a very good and promising one. I wish you luck!