24 million people to join ‘Immortal regiment’

Organizers of the "Immortal regiment" expect that 24 million people are to join the action all over Russia this year, the co-chairman of the movement Nikolay Zemtsov stated on air on “Govorit Moskva” (‘Moscow broadcasts’) radio station.

‘‘Speaking about the raw numbers, 12 million participated last year. Taking into account the scale of the event, this year the number of people may double. I think that more than a million people may attend the event in Moscow," Tass cites him as saying.

According to Zemtsov, organizers took into account last year’s experience and tried to improve. In particular, this time the march will be accompanied by music, and we will provide drinking water for the participants. "There will be a lot of music because it we did not have enough last year. We will invite accordion players, which usually attract a lot of people who like to sing,’’ the co-chair of the movement added.

In the framework of the public event-march the ‘Immortal regiment’ people carry photos of their relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War. For the first time the action was organized in Tyumen in 2007 and was called the ‘Parade of winners’. The name was changed after the march in Tomsk in 2012. In 2013 the march took place in 120 cities. In 2014 the event took place in 500 cities in seven countries. The march officially became a nationwide event in 2015.