Color, music and poetry assembled at a Russian cultural event at a local university in Karachi on Saturday as impressive performances by students enthralled the audiences. The ceremony, a component of a three-day Russian cultural festival, “Russia -My Soul,”was jointly organized by Russkii Mir Foundation, Newports Institute of Communications and Economics, and Moscow Polytechnic University. The highlight of the event was recitation from poetry and work of renowned Russian poet and play writer, Alexander Pushkin, famous novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and other Russian philosophers and thinkers by Pakistani students. Participants, particularly from Russia were impressed by the delivery and pronunciation of students. Another key portion of the ceremony, was dazzling performances by students on Russian and Pakistani traditional songs. A quiz competition was also held to judge participants’ knowledge of Russian art, culture and prominent figures. Participants were also show documentary on popular Russian sites and cities. In her remarks, Huma Bukhari, co-chairperson of the Newports Institute emphasized on cooperation between Pakistan and Russia in the fields of education culture, and art to promote people -to-people contact between the two countries. She announced that her institute is going to launch Russian language classes, especially to save the time and money of those students who wish to study in Russia. Alina Andrukh, Head of International Directorate, Moscow Polytechnic University eulogized students’ performances, adding that the two countries have witnessed a growing cultural cooperation in recent years. She observed that the number of Pakistani students in Russian universities have climbed up over the past decade. She said her university has been holding this festival for four years in Russia, but this year it decided to hold that in Pakistan. The visiting Russian delegation is headed by the Vice-Rector for International Affairs Yulia Davydova, whose strategic task is to introduce Russian culture to foreign citizens.