‘We’re for Cleanliness’ Russian Volunteer Clean-Up Week with the participation of NIEC member countries
The ‘We’re for Cleanliness’ Russian Volunteer Clean-Up Week is a major environmental initiative that aims to foster a culture of caring for the environment and get citizens involved in environmental volunteering.
The federal executive authorities, regional teams, public organizations, educational institutions, volunteer groups, as well as Russian diplomatic missions abroad and international partners all participated in the initiative, which took place across all regions of the Russian Federation and 51 other countries.
Key themes of the clean-up week included environmental volunteering, the development of an environmental culture, improvements to public spaces, and patriotic education through environmental initiatives.
The events of the initiative were held from 18 April to 3 May 2026 across all 89 regions of the Russian Federation and 51 other countries, and were attended by members of Russian diplomatic missions, compatriots living abroad, and Russia’s international partners.
The clean-up week, which consisted of 13,453 individual events that were attended by 1,065,217 participants, included environmental initiatives, community clean-up events, and projects to improve public spaces, historical monuments, war memorials, natural areas, and shorelines both in Russia and abroad.
The ‘We’re for Cleanliness’ Russian Volunteer Clean-Up Week in 2026 was the largest in the initiative’s history. The number of events more than doubled compared with 2025 from 5,610 to 13,453, while the number of participants almost doubled as well, rising from 572,950 to 1,065,217, which underscores a major expansion in both the scale and the effectiveness of the project.
The initiative introduced new models for interagency and public collaboration. In partnership with the Russian Football Union, an environmental agenda was integrated into football matches: stadiums featured video clips inviting attendees to join the initiative, complete with a QR code linking to the экологироссии.рф (экологироссии.рф) portal. In addition, teams from the Youth Football League and players from the Dynamo-Vladivostok Football Club took part in the initiative by organizing a cleanup of a shoreline. During a match between Lokomotiv and Zenit, fans were also encouraged to participate in the ‘We’re for Cleanliness’ Russian Volunteer Clean-Up Week.
The most notable initiatives included the launch of a initiative at the Mozhaysky Kremlin, where approximately 40,000 square metres of land were revitalized, an environmental initiative at the Moskva-Sortirovochnaya-Ryazanskaya depot in collaboration with the Russian Railways Youth organization, the planting of 5,000 cedar saplings in the Land of the Leopard National Park, as well as extensive international participation supported by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russia’s diplomatic missions abroad.