Russian March to take place for Unity Day

Today, Friday, November 4, is a day of nationalist mass demonstration – the Russian March – an event that has been criticized for racism and xenophobia in the past.

The Russian March occurs annually on Unity Day – a national holiday in Russia. Unity Day is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of Moscow’s liberation from under Polish occupation in November 1612. The liberation occurred by national uprising and was a turning point in the Polish-Muscovite War (1605–1618).

Unity Day was introduced as a federal holiday in 2005 to replace another federal holiday that took place annually on November 7. Day of Reconciliation and Accord, as the replaced holiday was called, was, in turn, itself introduced in 1992 to replace an old Soviet holiday commemorating the October Revolution, that too took place on November 7.

Since 2005, various celebrations occur across Russia on November 4. This year, a new monument will be erected beside the Kremlin.