UNESCO Could Include 2 Russian Sites in World Heritage List in 2017 - Envoy

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) could put two sites proposed by Russia on the organization's World Heritage List in 2017, Russia's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Alexander Kuznetsov told Sputnik in an interview.

PARIS (Sputnik) – In summer, the Polish city of Krakow will host the World Heritage Committee session.

"Two new applications [filed by Russia] will be considered [at the session]: the historic town of Sviyazhsk in the Republic of Tatarstan and a joint Russian-Mongolian project the Landscapes of Dauria. Significant preparations have been made," Kuznetsov said.

He added that he had personally seen how much efforts had been made to place the sites on the list and expressed hope that the UN organization would make a positive decision on the matter.

The town of Sviyazhsk was founded in 1551 to assist the Russian forces in operations against the Khanate of Kazan. Now the settlement with 18 historic and cultural heritage sites dating back to the 16th-19th centuries is one of the most popular tourist sites of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The Landscapes of Dauria is the site that includes parts of reservation parks in Russia and Mongolia with a total area of over 2.1 million acres, with 689,000 acres of them in Russia.

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