Russia's Krasnodar region has welcomed 188 children and teenagers from China's Sichuan province, which was hit by a devastating earthquake in May 2008. The children will spend a vacation on the region's Black Sea coast, the Krasnodar administration said on Monday.

The young Chinese will be vacationing "in the best camp of our country," Krasnodar Governor Alexander Tkachyov told Chinese Ambassador to Russia Guchang.

They were met at the airport by Tkachyov, Liu, Russian Deputy Education and Science Minister Yury Sentyurin, and Kremlin envoy to the Southern Federal District.

Tkachyov expressed confidence that granting the young victims of the quake a vacation in Russia would bring the Russian and Chinese peoples closer together and help build up business relations between the two countries, the Krasnodar administration said in a press release.