Published on: 2026-04-20
Source: KAMAZ – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
With the support of PJSC “KAMAZ,” on the past days of April 18-19, the XXII Scientific and Popular Festival “Digital History” was held in Naberezhnye Chelny, dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the city and the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first KAMAZ truck.
A large-scale event took place in Naberezhnye Chelny on the initiative of State Duma deputy of the Russian Federation, Alfiya Kogogina. The festival was held in the city of machine builders for the first time and brought together well-known Russian historians and popularizers of science in the Russian drama theater “Masters.” Special guests included the General Director of PJSC “KAMAZ,” Sergey Kogogin, and the theater and film actor Vladimir Gostyukhin, who played the main role in the series “Truckers.”
The event was also attended by the head of the executive committee of Naberezhnye Chelny, Farid Salaev, his deputy Natalia Kropotova, top managers and employees of PJSC “KAMAZ”, students of the Naberezhnye Chelny branch of the Kazan Federal University, guests from cities of Tatarstan and other regions.
“We are here for the first time in this wonderful city. Nine years ago, I came up with the project “Digital History”. Since then, it has been implemented in many cities and regions of our vast Motherland and, finally, it turned out to be here. And this is a great honor and joy for us, thank you for the invitation., – at the solemn opening of the festival notedGeneral Director of the “Digital Stories” Foundation, founder of the project Egor Yakovlev. –Today we will travel through the past of Russia on the KAMAZ. We will talk about the “Breakthrough into the Future”.
State Duma deputy of the Russian Federation Alfiya Kogogina in her speech emphasized the importance of the connection between generations – from the great achievements of the past to the modern technological breakthroughs. The theme of the festival is “Breakthroughs into the Future,” and one of these breakthroughs was called “KAMAZ” by the parliamentarian.
“This is a breakthrough of the Soviet person. A gigantic, unprecedented in scale construction of an automobile factory in Europe! This is also a technological breakthrough of today’s generation of engineers, designers, masters, workers, and enterprise management, which ensured the production of such automobiles that the pioneers could not even dream of. Then in the 1970s, KAMAZ became a real leap forward for domestic industry, forcing such industries as metallurgy, machine tool construction, electronics industry, and oil industry to rise to a new height.The 21st-century Kamaz drivers have completely modernized production and produce the truly best vehicles in the world, among which is an armored truck that saves the lives of our guys., – emphasizedState Duma deputy of the Russian Federation Alfiya Kogogina.
The two-day festival program covered the broadest range of topics. Each day was divided into two parts so that guests could choose the most interesting lectures for themselves. Historians Alexey Isaev and Boris Kipnis presented reports on the decisive battles of the Great Patriotic War and Peter’s reforms, which made Russia a great power. Ksenia Chepikova told about the myths surrounding Mendeleev’s periodic system. A separate block was dedicated to scientific progress: the audience learned how the plague was defeated in the 20th century, about the history of the Earth’s space satellite, and much more.
The program also included an introduction to the KAMAZ automobile exhibition, interactive exhibitions, autograph sessions, artistic readings, and vocal performances. Poems by Musa Jalil were performed by Svetlana Tsybina and Grigory Pryadko, as well as well-known musical compositions performed by the honored artist RT, finalist of the “Voice” show Elmira Kalimullina.
The first day of work concluded with an hour-long interview with the CEO of PJSC “KAMAZ.” During the communication, Sergey Kogogin answered questions from the founder of the “Digital History” project, Egor Yakovlev, and guests of the event seated in the hall.
On the second day of the festival, April 19, Egor Yakovlev and the Russian military historian, Candidate of Historical Sciences Alexey Isaev visited the Visit Center “KAMAZ” and the NP “KAMAZ-Autosport”, where the famous team “KAMAZ-master” is based. At the end of the excursionAleksey Isaevemphasized the importance of “KAMAZ” for the country and drew an analogy with an earlier period in history.“KAMAZ” is a new page in the history of the country’s automotive industry. Immediately, associations arose in my mind with the heroic period of industrialization of the late 1920s – early 1930s, when enterprises were built, the products of which literally won the war. The construction of “KAMAZ” became a new stage when an enterprise was created that was much larger in scale, capable of producing more powerful equipment. But the principles remained the same – people and technology. Today, “KAMAZ” is one of the pillars of the country and our Armed Forces., – he noted.
One of the key moments of the event, which along with the festival itself takes its place in the history of the auto giant, was Vladimir Gostyuin’s visit to the Scientific and Technical Center of the auto giant. Here the famous actor familiarized himself with the exhibition of the latest KAMAZ vehicles, evaluating the company’s progress over the past decades. At the test track, Vladimir Gostyuin tried out the flagship KAMAZ-54901 vehicle, behind the wheel of which was the company’s general director Sergey Kogogin.The lead actor in the series “Truckers” noted that the latest generation K5 tractor unit is a completely new design and a different level of comfort compared to the KAMAZ-54115 model, which was used in the filming of the popular TV project in the 2000s.
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