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Up to one million people expected to take part in Moscow’s ‘Immortal Regiment’ march

The ‘Immortal Regiment’ march is an annual event dedicated to the victory in the Great Patriotic War that claimed lives of over 27 million Soviet people

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Up to one million people are expected to take part on Wednesday in ‘Immortal Regiment’ march in the center of the Russian capital dedicated to May 9 Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.

"We expect up to one million people to participate in the march," Yelena Kalgina, a spokesperson for the Moscow-based department of Immortal Regiment movement said.

"Last year over 800,000 people took part in the event, but the weather was cold at that time as it rained and snowed from time to time," she said. "Today the weather promises to be good and we believe that the number of participants would reach the figure of one million or maybe even higher."

The ‘Immortal Regiment’ march is an annual event dedicated to the victory in the Great Patriotic War that claimed lives of over 27 million Soviet people. During the march, people carry portraits of their relatives, who fought or died during the war.

The very first march took place in the year of 2007 in the Siberian city of Tyumen under the name ‘Victors’ Parade’.

Five years later, another Russian Siberian city of Tomsk passed on the baton holding the march in 2012 and renamed the rally as ‘Immortal Regiment.’

The following year, about 120 cities joined the Immortal Regiment march and a year later people carried portraits of their relatives, who fought during the WWII in 500 cities in seven countries. Since 2015, the ‘Immortal Regiment’ march has become a nationwide event in Russia.