Exactly at 22 o'clock the first volleys of fireworks will sound. The brightest moment will come, literally, on May 9th. Looking into the evening sky, everyone will think about their own. But there is something that unites this day. With simple and warm thoughts, today almost eight million people across Russia took part in the “Immortal Regiment” procession. Two million more than last year. The action became truly nationwide. 850 thousand people came out in Moscow alone. This became important to all of us.
Especially from a bird's eye view you can see how this river of life and memory stretches through the center of Moscow. A real sea of people. And the day that united, connected all generations with the thread of Victory - both those killed in battle and the living; and those who had this happiness - to kiss their hands and hug them tightly, thanking for a peaceful life, and those who know their heroes only from stories and letters, from not always clear photographs, which they keep at home as the most valuable memory. They brought them out today for everyone to see - here he is, my hero!
Between the Dynamo metro station and the Belorussky Station Square, an hour before the start of the procession, there is a complete feeling of celebration. With us now are all those who decided to walk this entire path - almost six kilometers to Vasilyevsky Descent and always past the iconic place. After all, here, on the platform of the Belorussky Station, they said goodbye in 1941, seeing off to the front, and rejoiced, meeting those who survived and gave victory.
The faces are all one, simple and open. Eyes that know the price of life and such dear happiness - to live without war, without fear and tears. Their gift to us today cannot be appreciated in any way. All we can do is just walk with them in the same formation, clutching frames with cloudy photographs to the white knuckles and guessing as we go similar features in their great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
Some have no cards left with their heroes at all. And it was a difficult time - there was no time for photographs. And some simply did not survive the terrible years. But what is important is that the memory is alive. And many carry whole scatterings of photographs. Families went to war.
“This is my father, this is his uncle, they survived the war. And the older brother - he went missing. These are three brothers, all of them survived. And one lost his memory and lost his family,” say the march participants.
Looking at the portraits, you clearly understand: from the first day they all believed in Victory, in the fact that they would soon return home, but they would never forget their fighting friends. They believed, and therefore did not extinguish their living feelings for their closest and dearest, who knew how to wait like no one else.
An amazing story happened today almost live. Two sisters, who had never seen each other in 60 years, met during the “Immortal Regiment” - they recognized each other from identical photographs and told Channel One journalist Pavel Krasnov about their father.
“My granddaughter suddenly saw a portrait of our grandfather, my father. We approach, I say: you must be Lena! Daughter from his first wife. And this turned out to be our father. And so we met today,” says a participant in the action.
In the column of the “Immortal Regiment” today is Vladimir Putin with a portrait of his father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin. He went to the front in June 1941 and, while defending the Nevsky Piglet, a key bridgehead in breaking the Leningrad blockade, was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment. And today there is not a single soldier’s fate, much less a feat, that would not stir the soul.
How often after the war they tried to find each other. That pain ached, but front-line friendship was stronger than tank armor and gave no rest. “Where are you now, fellow soldiers?” - they whispered all their lives like a prayer. And it seems to be heard everywhere today: “We are all here!”
People are cheerful and friendly, sincere and cheerful. But it is impossible to fully describe the sensations from here, from inside the procession, in simple words. It's quite cool today, but the air itself seems to be heated with emotion. Here, on Pushkin Square, there are no longer hundreds of us, or even thousands, but tens of thousands - people with portraits are flocking from all the surrounding alleys. As they say, our regiment is arriving, and ahead is the heart of the capital.
For the first time in 75 years, in the hands of a great-great-grandson, a wooden accordion today began to sing “Katyusha” to the delight of the people.
“Our great-grandfather, he loved her, he never parted with her. Unfortunately, he died. And finally we convey these sounds, this joy to the rest of the people,” says a participant in the action.
Much of what keeps the warmth of the hands of the winners has been taken with them by their descendants today.
“This is my grandfather’s helmet. He was a tanker until he became a pilot. During the war it was very noisy, there were explosions, and that’s why it was specially made so that at least a little bit you couldn’t hear them, it was quiet,” says a participant in the procession.
Military marches on bagpipes are not at all exotic for good spirits. Another reminder that this was our common victory over fascism with the allied countries, from where dozens of descendants of World War II soldiers also came. Thomas Connolly - Scots Guardsman. He smashed the Nazis in France, Belgium and Germany. His son Gordon Connolly says he couldn't help but come out.
“This war united everyone and showed what a feat Russia accomplished for the whole world. My father told me that we owe it to you for the fact that we now live in the world - it was you who lost millions of people, more than all other countries,” he says.
“My father fought shoulder to shoulder with Soviet soldiers. He said they were great guys. He liberated Europe, and it’s very important to me that today he is at this grand celebration,” says John Paterson, the son of a World War II veteran.
For the first time, the grandson of Yuri Nikulin, his full namesake, along with his great-grandsons Stanislav and Sophia, are walking with a portrait of his famous grandfather in the “Immortal Regiment”. Senior Sergeant Nikulin was awarded the medals “For Courage” and “For the Defense of Leningrad.” It is not easy to recognize another legend of our cinema in this photo - at the front, Anatoly Papanov commanded an anti-aircraft artillery platoon, and in 1942 he was seriously wounded.
“For him, of course, Victory Day was the most important holiday of the year. He put on his orders and medals because he had them. When their platoon occupied some village, and the whole village was burned out, and the next morning they hear a rooster crowing! Dad says: we covered him with an overcoat, gave him some water, fed him something, and they had this rooster as a symbol of peaceful life,” says Elena Papanova, daughter of Anatoly Papanova.
“Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, my grandfather’s sister, and even today people come up and ask. This is the same Zoya who was in the partisan detachment, who was the first female hero of the Soviet Union. This is my duty, and it is very important for me that her feat is not forgotten. And so that people remember those who fought for them during the Great Patriotic War,” says German Kosmodemyansky, a descendant of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
The most poignant stories in this ocean of people are, perhaps, the fates of the “children of the regiment,” boys who had to endure something that even many adults can barely endure.
“At the age of 13, he was left an orphan, his parents died, and he was picked up by troops passing by,” says a participant in the procession.
And how many more such front-line stories are told in a voice trembling with excitement, how many soldiers' destinies and views - a countless number. But each of us is here today only to bow and say to those who, under fire and in the rear, did not spare themselves: thank you, dear ones, for the Victory! Thank you for not sticking to the price!
“We are grateful to them for the Victory, for this peace that we now have. They had a dream to walk along Red Square during the parade. Thanks to this campaign, we can make their dream come true. I brought my dad here; he died in February 1942. And so I brought him so that he could feel that he had contributed to this victory. It is important for us to see our grandfather through, because he himself could not pass here. I would like that he, even in our arms, would pass here, today on this day. This is our family holiday, our family tradition. We want to pass this on to our great-grandchildren, my daughter. We remember how they celebrated this holiday when they were alive. We weren’t told much; this is a celebration with tears in our eyes. But it was clear from their faces what they had gone through,” say participants in the “Immortal Regiment” action.
Here, on Red Square, it seems that the people in the portraits even look at us especially warmly. These eyes, which have seen a lot of grief and horror, seem to ask us over time: don’t let this happen again! And they silently thank those to whom they gave life. For the fact that they remember, appreciate and understand how important it is for them, who have gone down in history forever, to be together here and now. Walk in this quiet formation. Rather, even float above our heads in the same place as the peaceful sky.
For more than three hours this endless stream of smiles and glances did not subside. This series of thoughtful and cheerful faces. The songs of those years, bitter and joyful stories did not stop. And the May evening was filled with a clear feeling that everyone did not carry a portrait of a hero, but led him, his dear one, through the whole of Moscow, tightly holding his hand.
In Russia, on Wednesday, May 9, they celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the victory of Soviet troops over the Nazi invaders. In addition to military parades dedicated to the holiday, the regions are also hosting the “Immortal Regiment” event; up to a million people are going to take part in it in Moscow.
The Immortal Regiment is a procession of people with photographs of front-line soldiers and home front workers during the Great Patriotic War. Without the memory of the past there can be no peaceful future - this is the motto that guides the organizers and participants. The procession always causes awe and trembling, because it shows firsthand the countless number of those who laid down their health and lives in the name of protecting the Motherland from the enemy.
Participation in the event is voluntary and free. There is no need to register in advance - you can register on the website if you wish. Also this year, the promotion service publishes user stories about heroic relatives.
The gathering will begin from noon to one o'clock in the afternoon and will last until 15:00 - the procession column is expected to be divided into 25 sectors. About 40 volunteers will be assigned to each of them. Participants will have to walk along Leningradsky Prospekt, 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, Tverskaya, Manezhnaya and Red Squares. Next, the columns will be distributed to Moskvoretskaya embankment and the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. The procession is expected to last four hours - until seven in the evening.
You can join the procession or watch the action at any point along the route. At the same time, the organizers advise that if you infiltrate the column, do it not “from the head”, but in the middle-tail, so as not to violate the integrity of the procession.
You can take water and a snack with you. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather and wear something comfortable. Also, don’t forget a memorable photo of your “military” relative, reports the portal 1rre. Many, for lack of a photo, walk in a column with balloons and flowers, or with signs indicating the date of birth and death of a relative or information about his personal military history.
“We think that about 1 million people will take part, last year more than 800 thousand people came, but then it was very cold, it was raining and snowing. This year the weather promises to be good, so we assume that the figure may approach and even cross the 1 million mark,” say the organizers.
Immortal Regiment - blocking traffic in Moscow May 9, 2018
During the Immortal Regiment procession, Leningradsky Prospekt from the Dynamo metro station to the center, 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, Tverskaya and Mokhovaya streets, Teatralny proezd, Kremlevskaya and Moskvoretskaya embankments, as well as the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge will be blocked.
Also, not all metro stations along the procession will be open. “Dynamo” and “Belorusskaya” will not be closed, “Mayakovskaya” will be closed as Tverskaya is filled with protesters, but “Chekhovskaya”, “Pushkinskaya” and “Tverskaya” will be closed at exactly 13:00. You can join the column by leaving any of the listed stations, but you will not be able to join the “Immortal Regiment” by leaving any alley on Tverskaya. Therefore, plan your route in advance.
Moscow authorities urge citizens to be tolerant and use public transport on the holiday so as not to create unnecessary excitement by overloading the roads with traffic jams.
ALL PHOTOS
In the center of Moscow, as in many cities around the world, on May 9 the “Immortal Regiment” procession took place. People carried signs with images of their relatives who fought in the Great Patriotic War, flags of Russia and the Soviet Union, RIA Novosti reports. Many of them are dressed in the uniform of Soviet soldiers, infantrymen, and pilots.
People of different ages came to the rally, many of them children. Almost all participants wore St. George ribbons. They also carried flowers and balloons.
This year the procession ended at about 20:00. “This year the action lasted longer than usual due to the fact that a record number of people took part in it - more than a million people,” Interfax reported. official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk.
Thus, the “Immortal Regiment” in Moscow set a new record - last year the event attracted 850 thousand people.
In particular, the procession was attended by more than 100 employees of the RSK MiG corporation, as well as volunteers who carried signs with images of famous fighter pilots and designers of the corporation, including fighter pilot Stepan Mikoyan, who fought at Stalingrad, and designer Vano Mikoyan .
Vladimir Putin also joined the Immortal Regiment march. Putin is participating in this action for the fourth time. All past years, Putin carried a photograph of his father in his hands. As in previous years, actor Vasily Lanovoy walked next to the head of state.
In addition, along with Putin, the procession was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who had previously watched the parade on Red Square and laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Israeli Prime Minister carried in his hands a portrait of the Jewish hero of the Red Army, Wolf Vilensky. The Serbian President held an image of his grandfather.
Putin, Vucic and Netanyahu joined the procession at the Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin and followed in the ranks of the protesters to the Spasskaya Tower. Then they headed inside the Kremlin.
In the morning, a parade dedicated to Victory Day took place on Red Square in Moscow. The parade was hosted by Acting Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, and the commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov commanded the procession. The latest military equipment was shown at the parade, many of its types were presented to the public for the first time.
The “Immortal Regiment” action is also taking place in St. Petersburg. Its participants began a procession along Nevsky Prospekt, Interfax reports. Before the start of the procession, a column of retro cars with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and home front workers drove through the city center.
Participants of the “Immortal Regiment” with portraits of veteran relatives lined up on the area from Alexander Nevsky Square to Suvorovsky Prospekt. Taking part in the procession are the Governor of the Northern Capital Georgy Poltavchenko, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Vyacheslav Makarov, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District Alexander Beglov, and members of public organizations.
City authorities expect that the number of march participants will exceed 700 thousand people. At about 16:00 a festive concert will begin on Dvortsovaya. At 22:00 there will be a fireworks display in honor of the 73rd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Meanwhile, as the radio station “Echo of Moscow” reports, reports are coming from the regions about being forced to participate in the “Immortal Regiment” action. First of all, this concerns schoolchildren and students, since in many regions the main organizers of the action were the departments of education and youth of local administrations.
Thus, in Saratov, teachers of secondary school N44 and parents of students were required to participate in the action - 10 people from each class, the Svobodnye Novosti agency reports. In Grozny, students who did not attend the march were threatened with not being allowed to take tests, the portal reports
I don’t know about you, but I personally am outraged when state media and the organizers of the action throw out numbers - either their number of participants doubled compared to last year and amounted to 24 million, then suddenly it turns out to be about two.
The spread of readings is ten times!
This scattering of testimonies is a clear demonstration that the government is engaged in postscripts and manipulates society, in this case manipulating patriotic feelings.
Because it doesn't add up. Last year they reported about 12 million participants, and this year they announced an increase, they threw in a figure about 24 million, but then they replayed it and reported about two.
So how much is it really?
If it’s 2 million, that means last year they were telling the truth about 12 million.
And it’s not even that I really want to know how many participants in the “Immortal Regiment” action there actually were. The fact is that the lie about the number of participants in the “Immortal Regiment” gives reason to doubt other data that the president, government and state media give us. Aren't they also inflated several times over?
Or maybe no one overestimated anything, there was just a banal mistake, and I’m exaggerating here?
Let's figure it out.
Data for last year:
"On May 9, 2015, 12 million people took part in the Immortal Regiment march across Russia." - RIA News
"The organizers of the Immortal Regiment event estimate the number of participants at 12 million people. TASS reported this on Saturday, May 9." - Lenta.ru
"May 9, 2015 in procession<Бессмертного полка>12 million people participated throughout Russia" - Vedomosti
RIA Novosti, TASS, Lenta.ru and Vedomosti unanimously announced last year that there were 12 million participants in the action. Other media reported the same thing, citing either TASS or the organizers.
Similar figures are reported by other media -
"More than two million people took part in the Immortal Regiment campaign" (First channel)
"Procession throughout Russia<Бессмертного полка>attracted more than a million people"(NTV)
"The number of "Immortal Regiment" has almost reached two million people" 17:49 Moscow time (News)
Already interesting, right?
Last year - 12 million, and this year - about two.
It turns out that the number of participants has decreased by 6 times?
But this does not agree with observations, because this year there are approximately the same number of participants as last year, and in some cities there are noticeably more.
Here are the data for Moscow and St. Petersburg:
"In Moscow, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 700 thousand people took part in the “Immortal Regiment” action." And " In St. Petersburg, the number of participants in the Immortal Regiment procession as of 16:00 Moscow time amounted to more than 300 thousand people"(TASS)
Other sources have similar figures - 700-800 thousand in Moscow and 300-500 in St. Petersburg.
Last year there were 500-700 in Moscow and about 300 in St. Petersburg.
That is, in our capitals, no fewer participants came out to the Immortal Regiment rally than last year, probably even more. And the number of cities participating in the action has grown.
So the organizers say the same thing:
"The organizers note that the number of people wishing to talk about the feat of their fathers and grandfathers has increased significantly this year compared to the previous year."(TASS)
Is it interesting?
Last year they reported about 12 million, this year the number of participants has increased (which is confirmed by data for Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities), but in total there were about two million participants, that is, 6 times less.
However, some media claim that this year there were not two, but 16 or 24 million participants in the action.
"16 million Russians took part in the now traditional “Immortal Regiment” campaign in memory of fallen soldiers. Moreover, more than 700 thousand people marched in Moscow."
Just in case, here is a screenshot:
And initially Vesti reported about 24 million - this figure appeared on the infographics that the channel showed at about 20:00 Moscow time on May 9. But Vesti did not post a video with this graphic on the website and did not repeat it.
The Zvezda TV channel also reported about 24 million - " In Russia, 24 million people took part in the procession."
By the way, “Zvezda” is a TV channel of the Ministry of Defense: OJSC TRK AF RF “ZVEZDA”
And now - even more interesting:
Before the start of the event, the organizers predicted the participation of exactly 24 million Russians:
"About 24 million people throughout Russia will take part in the “Immortal Regiment” campaign"(LifeNews)
Here are the words of the co-chairman of the movement Nikolai Zemtsov:
"If we talk purely about dry numbers, 12 million last year. This one, judging by the scale, may be twice as large. In Moscow, I think there will be more than a million people."
TASS also provided these data before the start of the action -
"Almost 24 million people are expected to take part in the “Immortal Regiment” campaign"
That's where the 24 million figure came from!
This was a preliminary estimate by the organizers, based on the fact that last year they counted 12 million, and this year they expected (or received orders) to double the figure.
And 12 million last year, apparently, was counted with obvious excess. Also most likely wishful thinking. Either the round date of the 70th anniversary had such an effect that they multiplied the real figures by ten, or they promised one of the officials to collect 12 million and reported on the fulfillment. Maybe they just blurted it out without thinking, and the media replicated the figure and then didn’t bother to correct it.
That is, the picture turns out as follows:
In the year of the 70th anniversary of the victory, the organizers of the action, inspired by the round date, access to the federal level and the participation of Putin himself in the action, reported 12 million.
This year they promised to double the figures, took last year’s figure as a basis, multiplied by two and said that they expected 24 million.
The media replicated this, and Vesti even managed to put together an infographic and put it on air.
But why then did the data about two million participants appear?
I think there are two reasons here:
1 - Someone realized that 24 million is not very realistic, if only because in total from 16 to 24 million people took part in the holiday, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was impossible for more people to march in the Immortal Regiment than all that participated in the celebration.
2 - This year, the organizers of the event provided data on the number of participants not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in other cities. And according to the amount of data provided, 24 million did not come out.
How long did it actually take to be in the Immortal Regiment?
Moscow - more than 700 thousand.
St. Petersburg - more than 300 thousand.
Vladivostok - 30 thousand.
Khabarovsk - 50 thousand.
Novosibirsk - 250 thousand.
Barnaul - 50 thousand.
Tomsk - 20 thousand.
Irkutsk - 40 thousand.
Omsk - 30 thousand.
Ufa - 25 thousand.
Tula - 180 thousand.
Sochi - 60 thousand.
Volgograd - 24 thousand.
Orenburg - 20 thousand.
Sevastopol - 15 thousand.
Nalchik - 20 thousand.
Kaliningrad - 30 thousand.
About a dozen cities were also indicated, in which 5-10 thousand people participated. And summary data for several regions.
Those same 2 million participants!
Maybe two and a half or a little more.
Add, count.
You can look at it from the other side - in Moscow about 6% of the population took part in the action, in St. Petersburg about the same percentage, in Vladivostok about 5%.
For most of the cities listed, the percentage of participants is about 5%; Novosibirsk (15%) and Tula (37%) stand out mainly.
But we must not forget that in most small towns, and especially in villages, this action either did not take place at all, or was unorganized and cannot be accounted for in any way.
Therefore, they could not count either 24 million, or 16, or even 12, announced last year.
There were 2-3 million. Maybe 4.
And last year there weren’t 12 million, there were about two, because the action took place mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then they raised a million between them.
Especially for those who wrote yesterday about 50 grandchildren of one grandfather and geometric progression:
If all grandfathers had 50 grandchildren, or at least 10, the population of Russia today should be between 500 million and two billion.
But the population of Russia is 147 million.
If your grandfather has 10 or 50 grandchildren, it doesn’t mean anything, because another grandfather had 1 or 2 grandchildren, and someone had no grandchildren at all.
My grandfather has one grandson and one granddaughter, and my great uncle has one daughter and no grandchildren.
Moreover, the number of grandchildren does not show how many people took part in the march of the Immortal Regiment, because one grandfather had 10 grandchildren and all went to the rally, while another had 50 grandchildren and only one went to the rally.
All calculations of the number of grandchildren and stories about how many descendants of one grandfather went to the action are virtual layouts from the “what could have been” series. These are virtual grandchildren in a vacuum.
But in reality it was as it was - about two million, according to the organizers. And this is quite plausible.
In total, about 16 million people across the country took part in the celebration of Victory Day - this is according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
And this is not so little, by the way.
Therefore, do not blame me for wanting to underestimate the figures and cast doubt on the patriotic feelings of our citizens.
Two million is also a lot!
This is not a regiment, but an entire army. Not every country can put so many into operation in a whole year, but here two million came out in one day. Or maybe even three.
Yes, I would have believed ten million, especially if Vesti had not started changing their readings on the fly.
It’s just that when they said about 24 million, which in itself looks dubious, and then it turned out that a total of 16 came out for the holiday, and according to the organizers, two entered the regiment...
I don’t like it when authorities lie and change their testimony.
Especially when this is done unnecessarily.
Who forced you to report about 12 million last year? Did the size of the grants depend on how many people wrote the report? Fees? Although there may be fees...
But one way or another, after such reports, the question arises: can we trust other indicators that are announced to us through state media?
They told us that 9,000 terrorist targets and 5,000 fuel tankers were destroyed in Syria - is this true or not? Or should we actually divide by ten?
If Zvezda, the Ministry of Defense TV channel, wrote about 24 million members of the Immortal Regiment, then how can we trust the same Ministry of Defense about successes in Syria? After all, successes in Syria are even more difficult for us to verify than these Immortal Regiment actions.
They told us that Putin is supported by 86% of the population. They said that “we are not there”, the Central Bank is acting correctly, the government is working satisfactorily, the decline in GDP will soon stop, and PMI in the services sector has already begun to grow - believe it or not?
After the Immortal Regiment has either 12 million or 24, then it turns out that there are actually two - it’s hard to believe other indicators.
And the election results - to believe or not?
Or does our Central Election Commission also have orders and adjusts the election results to predetermined indicators?
I think it really suits me.
Only the Central Election Commission does this more carefully - it does not change 24 million to 1.9 during the day.
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The “Immortal Regiment” continues in Moscow and other cities. The stream of people seems endless. And it’s not surprising - on May 9, we need rituals that allow us to pay tribute to our loved ones and celebrate victory. But Gazeta.Ru is finishing its online broadcast and wishes everyone a festive mood. And, of course, peace.
Our colleagues from the photo service have collected the most striking shots of the “Immortal Regiment”, which is still ongoing in Moscow.
Photo report: Procession "Immortal Regiment" in Moscow
Is_photorep_included11745331: 1
One of the participants in the march in Moscow told Gazeta.Ru that he started moving in a column near the Dynamo metro station at 15.00, and only now approached the Central Telegraph building at the beginning of Tverskaya (the intersection with Gazetny Lane). That is, he spent almost three hours in the Immortal Regiment. According to him, about a million people came to the rally. In general, these data coincide with the information disseminated by the media. We are waiting for official confirmation of this.
There are a lot of children in the Immortal Regiment today. Many participants write about the importance of linking generations in memory of the heroism of veterans.
“The Immortal Regiment” has been going on in Moscow for almost two hours, but the number of people carrying portraits of their loved ones-heroes is not decreasing. Tverskaya and Tverskaya-Yamskaya are still filled with dense rows of people.
Muscovites walk along Bolshaya Ordynka. At the intersection with Klimentovsky Lane, riot police officers invite all participants in the action to go to the Tretyakovskaya metro station, reports a Gazeta.Ru correspondent.
Many participants in marches in different cities of Russia say that participants in the Second World War did not like to talk about the war. Nevertheless, bit by bit, each family collects its own story of those terrible historical events.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also participates in the Immortal Regiment. He congratulates the veterans. “Unfortunately, every year there are fewer and fewer of them around us. But the more valuable are the minutes of communication with them,” the politician emphasizes.
Publication from I❤Izhevsk(@tvoy_izh) May 9, 2018 at 5:04 PDT
In Lugansk, the “Immortal Regiment” action is also taking place with broad support from the population. In total, about 50 thousand citizens took to the streets of the city. Organizers say residents of areas controlled by Kiev also joined the march.
Even foreign tourists joined the Immortal Regiment. On TV they show a guy from the USA, whose ancestor participated in the opening of the second front.
Next to President Putin is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also holds in his hands a portrait of his hero of that very terrible war, Victory in which united the whole world.
President Vladimir Putin joined the marchers on Red Square. Since 2015, he has joined the Immortal Regiment every year and carries a photograph of his father.
The procession of the “Immortal Regiment” has officially started in Moscow. According to some estimates, about a million people will walk along Tverskaya Street.
The Immortal Regiment is also present in the virtual space. Social media users tell small stories about the great deeds of their ancestors. Therefore, if you do not have the opportunity to go outside the streets of your city, share a fragment of your family history with other users.
The Immortal Regiment initiative first received the status of an all-Russian (but not political) event in 2015, when the whole country was preparing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory over fascism. On May 9, 2015, the “Regiment” column was led by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who carried a portrait of his front-line father along Tverskaya.
By the way, in 2015, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Lebanon, Norway, USA, Estonia and South Korea joined the action.
This year the “Immortal Regiment” is gathering a truly huge number of people. For example, this is what the procession in Yekaterinburg looks like. And this despite the fact that the weather in the capital of the Urals today is not the most favorable.
The first “Immortal Regiment” took place in 2012 in Tomsk. It was organized by local journalists. Then about 6 thousand people took to the streets of this Siberian city. The following year, more than 120 cities and towns in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan joined the action. The number of participants has already increased to 180 thousand people. And a year later, in 2014, protests took place in Belarus and Israel.
The geography of the "Regiment" is still expanding. In 2018, for the first time, marches took place in Syria, Switzerland and even Antarctica.
In Moscow, the procession is just getting ready to start, but live broadcasts already show a queue either near Tverskaya Zastava Square or a little further from the Dynamo metro station. This, by the way, is more than 2.5 km. Last year, more than 500 thousand people took part in the action in the capital. Apparently, this year this record will be broken.
The purpose of the action is to preserve and pass on the memory of our ancestors, who at the cost of their lives gave us peace and freedom. This noble task unites people all over the world, and therefore the action has crossed state borders - processions of the “Immortal Regiment” are taking place not only in Russian cities, but also in the countries of the former USSR, Europe, and the USA. The organizers of the processions told Gazeta.Ru the day before about how events were taking place in other countries.
Good afternoon, dear readers! The “Immortal Regiment” is marching across the country - a non-profit, non-political, non-state action that grew out of a small civil initiative and united many countries of the world. Everyone can take to the streets with photographs of relatives who took part in the Great Patriotic War and join the procession to the eternal flame or other memorial place in the city.
In Moscow the action starts at 15.00. "Gazeta.Ru" shares the stories of the participants of the action and talks about how the processions take place in Russia and abroad. Stay with us.