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Demonstrators to march, rally in support of Vladimir Putin on Thursday

The organizers have declared that taking part in the street procession will be up to 30,000 people

MOSCOW, February 23 (Itar-Tass) —— Moscow will see a street procession and rally in support of Vladimir Putin on Thursday. The co-organizers - Putin’s election team and the All-Russia People’s Front – have declared the purpose of the event will be to “express approval of the current political course and to give a rebuff to the forces that are trying to ruin the country.”

The organizers have declared that taking part in the street procession will be up to 30,000 people. The rally may gather up to 100,000.

The prime minister’s press-secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has speculated that the rally in Luzhniki might be attended by Putin himself.

“This should not be ruled out. Plans are being finalized. With a high degree of probability he will be there,” Peskov told the television channel Dozhd (Rain) on Tuesday.

At first Putin’s election team applied for a rally by 200,000 along Tverskaya Street and a rally in Manezhnaya Square. However, after objections from the Moscow Mayor’s Office the prime minister’s supporters agreed to hold the street march along the Moskva River that would end with a rally in Luzhniki.

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