Russian poet Yevtushenko in Slovakia

The famous Russian poet Yevgenij Yevtushenko, who arrived in Bratislava from the international Art Film Festival in Trencianske Teplice on Sunday, made an appearance at the Old Town Summer Games. Yevtushenko braved the unfavourable weather to deliver his poetry and sign autographs on a city-centre square. He said that at 72 he is in Slovakia for the first time and hopes to revisit this country more often. After delivering his poetry in Russian, Yevtushenko took the liberty of joking that Slovaks are in a curious linguistic position: they are slowly forgetting Russian but cannot speak English properly.