Festive rallies and demonstrations, concerts,
historical reenactments and theater performances will be held across Russia on
Saturday.
MOSCOW, November 4. /TASS/. On Saturday, Russia celebrates the Unity Day, one of the youngest national holidays.
The holiday
was established in 2005 replacing the Day of Consent and Reconciliation, which
had been celebrated on November 7 (formerly Revolution Day) since 1996. It
marks the events of 1612 when people’s militias led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry
Pozharsky liberated Moscow from Polish invaders.
Historically,
the holiday marks the end of the Time of Troubles (1598-1613), which comprises
the years of interregnum, the Polish-Muscovite War and a deep social and
economic crisis, and symbolizes the unity of people and their ability to unite
during the difficult time.
Festive
rallies and demonstrations, concerts, historical reenactments and theater
performances will be held across Russia on Saturday. One of the central events
will be a concert "Russia Unites" in Moscow’s Luzhniki sports
complex, where famous people of art, public figures and civil society
representatives will perform.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin will give a state award for strengthening unity of the
Russian nation during a ceremony in the Kremlin. The award was introduced in
2016 for activity aimed at uniting the multi-ethnic Russian people and
harmonizing interethnic relations, the Kremlin press service said.
According
to the tradition, Putin will also hand over the Orders of Friendship to foreign
citizens for their special merits in enhancing peace, friendship and mutual
understanding between people, and preserving and promoting the Russian language
and culture abroad.
The
president will also lay flowers to the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red
Square. Later in the day, Putin is scheduled to attend the exhibition, Russia
Focused on The Future, in Moscow’s Manezh Central Exhibition Hall. The
exhibition is devoted to the projects in space, information technologies,
science, industry, transport, medicine, economy and urban development.
A survey
carried out by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center showed on Friday
that more than half of Russians (54%) are sure that there is national unity in
the country, and another 40% are skeptical about that. A year ago, Russians
were divided, with about an equal number of respondents (44%) saying there was
and there was no unity.
Source: ITAR-TASS 04-11-2017
