According to the Russian Interior Ministry, over one million people have taken part in the Immortal Regiment march in the Russian capital, Interfax news agency reports.
The Immortal Regiment is a massive civil event during which thousands of people march in Moscow and cities around the world with portraits of relatives who took part in WWII.
“Over one million Moscow residents and visitors are marching across the city carrying portraits of their relatives,” Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Irina Volk stated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also participated in the march.
The airborne part of the annual Victory Day parade was cancelled in several Russian cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Samara “due to weather conditions.”
Police detained participants of Immortal Regiment marches in several Russian cities. Yekaterina Voronina was detained during the Immortal Regiment march in Korolev, a city in the Moscow Region, for carrying a portrait of her relative who fought in WWII signed “He wouldn’t have wanted to do it again.” Voronina was later released without any charges after she wrote an explanatory note. In Ufa, police detained and later released another participant of the rally, Yulia Samoylova, for carrying a sign saying “My grandfather fought against fascism.”
Artyom Potapov was detained in Moscow for sitting on a bench with a candy box and a sign that said: “If you’re against the war, have some candy.”
Source: OVD-Info
A SOTA reporter who was interviewing the man was also detained, OVD-Info, a Russian human rights group that monitors political arrests, reports, citing Potapov’s wife.
In St. Petersburg, local councilman Sergey Samusev was detained for carrying a portrait of Boris Romanchenko, a Holocaust survivor who was killed after an attack by Russian forces on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in March 2022.
