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| Russia rallies for post-Soviet national day |
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Thursday, November 05, 2009
MOSCOW: Russia on Wednesday marked its new annual day of national unity, established under strongman leader Vladimir Putin, with nationalist demonstrations that included rallies by far-right extremists. The November 4 Day of National Unity has been celebrated since 2005 when Russia’s then president Putin created the holiday to replace the November 7 commemoration of the 1917 October Revolution.
Putin’s successor President Dmitry Medvedev said the national day “gives us reason to believe that we are indeed a united people, a people capable of overcoming the biggest problems which have been our fate more than once.”
Russians were “a people that has defeated the enemy many times. A people that endured deprivation but stayed strong and courageous,” he said in a speech in the town of Suzdal east of Moscow carried on state television.
The biggest rally was by pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi which mustered 20,000 of its supporters by the river in central Moscow, according to police and the organisation.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
