The Immortal Regiment Marches On: From Japan to the United States, Millions Came out on Victory Day
Per tradition, an Immortal Regiment procession was held on Victory Day. The event is dedicated to those who fought in the Great Patriotic War. More than 10 million people all over Russia honored the memory of relatives who participated in the war.
More than a million people took to the streets of Moscow. Vladimir Putin also passed through Red Square. He carried a photograph of his father, a frontline soldier. There were also foreign leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Serbian President Alexander Vučić also held photographs of their relatives that were veterans.
About a million people passed through the streets of St. Petersburg, 250 thousand in Novosibirsk, 150 thousand in Ekaterinburg, and more than 100 thousand in Saratov, Rostov-on-Don, and Krasnodar.
The Immortal Regiment processions were held in many countries — from Japan to the US.
In Dublin, festivities began with a traditional rally. About 400 cars filled with banners and St. George ribbons traveled from the suburbs of Dublin to the capital of Ireland. People there also memorialized their relatives who fought against fascism.
The dead were commemorated in China, Cambodia, Bosnia, Holland, Warsaw, Latvia, Romania, Australia, and Switzerland. The full list is very long.
Alexei Konopko will tell us how the memory of Soviet servicemembers was honored abroad.
It's unlikely that anyone has seen such an Immortal Regiment before. The famous event reached the capital of the Republic of the Congo. Residents in Brazzaville barely carried any portraits, but they did don some St. George ribbons and even learned a few military songs by heart.
With Russian and Bulgarian flags flying, portraits of veterans in hand, and David Tukhmanov's Victory Day ringing in the air, this Immortal Regiment passed through the streets of fifty cities of Bulgaria. More than two thousand people marched from the Monument to the Unknown Soldier to the Monument of the Soviet Army in Sofia, the capital of the country.
People with black and white portraits gather in London for the third year in a row. Victory banners along with other banners written in two languages were carried from Trafalgar Square along the sidewalks of Whitehall Street, which wasn't cordoned off for Victory Day, past Downing Street to Westminster Palace.
The descendants of the partisans of Yugoslavia marched with portraits in hand in Banja Luka for the second time. Two thousand residents were joined by the President of the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In neighboring Croatia, an Immortal Regiment procession was held for the first time, with about 300 people marching through the streets of Zagreb. Processions passed through five Serbian cities. Cadets from a military academy named after George the Victorious of Tambov marched together with the residents of Belgrade.
Alexander Chepurin, Ambassador of Russia to Serbia: "This holiday, as they say with tears in their eyes, is a sacred holiday which cost the country a huge sacrifice, for both Russia and Serbia".
And in Latvia, whose authorities are actively fighting historical memory, residents of Daugavpils arranged a real parade with military equipment and their own orchestra. By the way, on the eve of the event, it was here where it all started for three Baltic countries. The eternal flame from Daugavpils was passed to Vilnius, Tallinn, and Riga, where the Immortal Regiment gathered a record 15 thousand participants.
"These are my grandparents, Vasilyev Vasily Vasilyevich and Bobrova Polina Nikolaevna. They are from the Pskov region".
The Russian National Guard Band celebrated the 9th of May in Cyprus. The military band performed in Nicosia, Larnaca, and Limassol before the start of the Immortal Regiment procession. Today, the concert took place directly on the deck of a ship.
Instead of an Immortal Regiment procession, there was a solemn gathering at the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Jakarta.
Immortal Regiment marches were held in Thailand, South Korea, Turkey's Antalya, Copenhagen, and the capital of Romania. All over the world, people in 150 countries marched with portraits of their ancestors on May 9th.
Alexei Konopko, Evgenia Zentsova, Anna Voronina — Vesti.