The 18th annual international theater festival, "Meetings in Russia", will be held in St. Petersburg from 4th to 8th of April.

The event will include performances from several countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Baltic states.

The festival will be held in the Baltic House, founded in 1936 and located in the historical center of St. Petersburg, and will bring together all of the Russian-speaking theaters from the ex-Soviet republics.

This April marks the 55th anniversary of the USSR's first manned mission to space, which will be the central theme of this year's festival.

The opening ceremony of festival will feature the Estonian Russian Theatre group's play "Five Evenings", by Alexander Volodin.

There will be additional drama theater performances by Kyrgyz, Kazahk, Uzbek, Georgian, Azeri and Lithuanian groups throughout the week.

The festival will hold roundtables, workshops, and a photo exhibition "Lithuania. Step on a meeting" by prominent St. Petersburg journalists Vladimir and Vyacheslav Zheltov.

The festival is held in April each year since 1998, with the purpose of strengthening the cultural ties of Russian speaking communities abroad.