TheRussian march (Russian:Русский марш,romanized: Russkiy marsh) is an annual demonstration conducted byfar-rightRussian nationalist andneo-Nazi organizations in major Russian cities.[1][2][3] They are usually conducted on 4 November, theDay of National Unity in Russia.[4]
The first Russian March took place on 4 November 2005, theUnity Day.[citation needed]
Besides Moscow, the March was planned inSaint Petersburg,Krasnoyarsk,Novosibirsk,Chita,Stavropol,Maykop,Tyumen,Vladivostok,Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk,Blagoveshchensk,Nizhniy Novgorod andKaliningrad, but was banned in the majority of cities as well.[5][6][7]Irkutsk officially allowed the March.[citation needed] The rallies took place also inUkraine (Kyiv,Crimea,Odesa,Sevastopol),Moldova (Chișinău,Tiraspol) andGeorgia (Tbilisi).[8][9][10] The Heads of Russian Youth ofMoldova and Eurasian Youth Union of the Republic of Moldova have been arrested.[11][12] Even though the use ofNazi symbols was prohibited by the organizers,[13] a flag with conventionalizedswastika was raised by the Head of SS-Slavic Union Dmitriy Demushkin in Moscow.[14]
Banning the march in Moscow, mayorYuriy Luzhkov said: "If we allow our state to be split on ethnic or interconfessional grounds, if we allow religious wars, then I am afraid this will be the end of Russia." A counter-protest in Moscow by left-wing demonstrators drew about 500 people carrying banners with slogans such as "Russian Anti-Fascist Front" and "I am Russian and therefore not a fascist."[15] The Russian March was also opposed by the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights and Russian Jewish community headed byrabbiBerel Lazar.[16] Krasnoyarsk youth organizations "Together!", "Krasnoyarsk Regional Student Squads", "Krasnoyarsk Youth Forum", "Yenisey Patriots" and "Youth Guards of United Russia" have prepared a written appeal to Governor ofKrasnoyarsk OblastAlexander Khloponin and city mayorPyotr Pimashkov to prevent holding of Russian March in the city.[17] However theMovement Against Illegal Immigration toldReuters it would go ahead with their gatherings regardless of whether they were authorized or not.
The 2006 Russian march was banned bycity mayorYuriy Luzhkov on 31 October. Despite condemning the xenophobic nature of The March, the Deputy Chief of the Moscow branch ofYablokoAlexei Navalny advocated for the permission of the event in the framework offreedom of assembly.[18]
A separate mass-meeting called the Right March have been organized by severalOrthodox movements (the National Council, the Orthodox Standard Bearers Union and The Bastion), which declared their independent intentions.[19]
In the 2017 the Russian march, inLyublino District, participants are reported to include several far-right organizations, such as Nationalist Party, Black Bloc led by Vladimir (Ratnikov) Komarnitsky, Nation and Freedom Committee (KNS) led by Vladimir Burmistrov and Roman Kovalyov. At the beginning of the event, some far-right activists, addressing reporters, told that the police wanted to prevent them from participating in the march, because of the symbols they were wearing. For this reason, several demonstrators broke away from the march and tried to improvise a new march on Belorechenskaya street, and they were quickly arrested along with other passersby, in the confusion. During these detentions the police threw one of women participants, knocking her unconscious. The march continued towards theBratislavskaya Metro station and also Konstantin Filin was also detained after the far-right demonstrators shouted anti-police slogans. At the metro station several nationalist leaders made speeches from the stage, during which they talked about the repression suffered by the far right in Russia. Ivan Noviopov of the Irreconcilable League called for a "white revenge", unfurling a Confederate flag. Andrei Narodny of the National-Revolutionary Vanguard (NRA) closed his speech with afascist salute.[20]
Authorities of theRussian Federation denied authorization for the 2020 Russian march due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Despite the ban, dozens of nationalists gathered in a Siberian city ofBarnaul on November 4, protesting against PresidentVladimir Putin.[21] The organizers of the Russian march in Moscow, following the refusal, planned to lay flowers at theFederal Penitentiary Service office, to commemorate Russian neo-NaziMaxim Martsinkevich, who died in prison one month before. The Moscow police detained at least 32 of far-right activists.[21][22]
