Soviet-era children's camp reopens in Ukraine's Crimea

GURZUF, June 2 (RIA Novosti) - The Artek children's camp in Ukraine's Crimea has reopened after a pause of several months due to financial difficulties, the camp's director said on Tuesday.

"Artek is now operating steadily and at full capacity. The camp is filled, and there are no wage arrears," Boris Novozhilov told RIA Novosti.

The camp on the Black Sea, the largest children's camp during the Soviet period, became embroiled in a dispute with employees in January, over wage arrears and a lack of government funding.

Ukraine's family, children and sports minister, Yuriy Pavlenko, said 35 million hryvnias (about $4.5 million) had been spent from the national reserve fund "on modernization and development" of the camp.

"The money will be invested in full by November," the minister told RIA Novosti.

An Artek spokesman said that in recent years the camp has been hosting over 3,500 children from several countries each summer, and plans to raise the number to the Soviet-era level of 27,000 children by the end of 2009. Ukraine's government will channel 73 million hryvnias (some $8.5 million) to accommodate 20,000 children in 2009.

The camp in the town of Gruzuf hosted 300,000 children, including more than 13,000 children from seventy countries, between 1925 and 1969.

Visitor numbers dwindled when the Soviet Young Pioneers organization was officially closed, but the camp remains a popular year-round holiday site for children.