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Chairman of the Board of Dream Island Company Amiran Mutsoyev: Mr President, I have prepared a 60-second video clip. May I show it to you?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Please, I would be delighted to watch it.

Amiran Mutsoyev: This highlights the scale of the project.

(Shows the video clip.)

Vladimir Putin: You have established the largest indoor amusement park in Europe. Is that correct?

Amiran Mutsoyev: This is actually the largest indoor amusement park in the world, covering an area of 100 hectares. Here you can see the construction footprint, which included a building with an area of 36 hectares. We opened the park five years ago but had to shut it down just seven days later due to the pandemic, and the park remained closed for nine months. Mr President, after reopening, the park attracted 20 million visitors.

Vladimir Putin: 19.5 million.

Amiran Mutsoyev: I rounded the figure and added 400,000. In total, 19.6 million people visited in just over four years, as we have operated for four years.

We have organised over 42,000 theatre performances and shows, with five million people watching them. Mr President, Moscow’s theatres, from Bolshoi to Maly, typically organise 21,000 productions annually. In four years, we hosted 50 percent of all theatre shows at a single venue. We have puppet theatres, other performances, including Mowgli in the Land of the Dinosaurs, and so on. During this time, we have also organised 400 concerts, which were attended by 1.1 million people.

Mr President, in the past four years, we expanded the park by 40 percent, adding new zones and increasing the number of attractions and fun rides by 30 percent, expanding the children’s zone and the space for young people.

We opened a concert hall two years ago. It is one of the largest concert halls in Europe, with 4,500 seats. We also opened Europe’s largest urban swimming pool complex two years ago. Mr Sobyanin, Moscow Mayor, took you around it at that time. The complex has 2,500 sun loungers and has been visited by 400,000 people.

We have conducted our own analysis. Over the past four years, Moscow has seen a tourist flow of approximately 20 million people [each year]. Due to the Dream Island, the composition of tourists has shifted: the number of families has increased by 30 percent. More tourists come with their families now.

Vladimir Putin: I believe that this is what you wanted to begin with.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes. The time tourists spend in the city has doubled, from three days previously, and they mostly came for business, to family tourists who spend six days in Moscow because they plan to spend one day at the Dream Island and devote the rest to the Kremlin and so on. That is what we have achieved over the past four years.

Vladimir Putin: They visit the Kremlin first and the Dream Island afterwards.

Amiran Mutsoyev: We have also opened a Ferris wheel. We have been working at the VDNKh for the past two years. We have shown it to you: it is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe, with a height of 140 metres. The London Eye is 132 metres; ours is eight metres taller. About 12 million people have visited it.

Vladimir Putin: The scale is impressive.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, it is. When we opened the Ferris wheel two and a half years ago, I told you that we would start building an outdoor park at the Dream Island. We have begun construction, and we will open it next year.

It will be as tall as a 15-storey building, with a floor space of 12,000 square metres. It will be a separate amusement ride located inside the theme park.

Vladimir Putin: You had a large group of artists and architects working on it.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, I will tell you about it now. We have our own film-making department and an animation department. We write our own fairy tales and create new characters. I have brought you three books to show that we are doing this.

Vladimir Putin: The hall is really big and beautiful.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, with 4,500 seats. But this September we will start…

Vladimir Putin: It is 4,200 seats.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, Mr President, it is 4,200 seats if we remove the first 12 rows (they can be removed). We can actually install over 5,000 seats; as many as 5,700.

This year, we will start building another concert hall with a capacity of 10,000 seats at the same location. Given the high number of shows we produce, a larger venue is essential.

Additionally, we have started building two more theatres at the Dream Island specifically for musicals: one with 1,500 seats for young audiences and another with 650 seats designed for children’s performances.

Vladimir Putin: How many people do you employ?

Amiran Mutsoyev: In total, approximately 1,850 people work at Dream Island.

Vladimir Putin: This is a substantial number.

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, that is exactly what I meant. Our greatest achievement – and our main asset – is not the buildings or the rides, but the management company itself.

Why has this been so challenging? Khrushchev wanted to build it but could not. Luzhkov also tried but was unsuccessful. It is a complex endeavour. Attracting foreign companies was nearly impossible, and creating our own was an even greater challenge. But overall, we are managing well and successfully overseeing operations.

Vladimir Putin: What are the plans?

Amiran Mutsoyev: I just mentioned them. They are quite ambitious.

Vladimir Putin: What do they entail? What is needed to make them happen?

Amiran Mutsoyev: The construction of new concert halls, the expansion of the Dream Island park, and a hotel, which is already underway.

Vladimir Putin: Is it being built nearby?

Amiran Mutsoyev: Yes, right at the Dream Island. There is so much happening!

For example, Mr President, another project we are working on is a full-scale resort in Mnevniki. It will feature a massive pool complex that operates year-round – part of it in the summer – with 5,000 sun loungers, retail areas, and a large spa centre. Everything is designed with tourists in mind.

Vladimir Putin: Excellent.

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