The 'Immortal Regiment of Russia' Movement has launched an Internet portal which is able to unite 290 million descendants of soldiers of the Great Patriotic War all over the world. The 'Immortal Regiment of Russia' is a public march action, during which people carry photographs of their relatives who participated in the Great Patriotic War. The action is held on Victory Day in the cities of Russia and other countries. Last year 12 million people participated in it. According to President Putin, there is a great demand for such initiatives, which is confirmed by the demand for volunteers. “The Victory Volunteers Movement which was formed by the 70th anniversary of the Victory involves more than 150 thousand people today. They continue helping veterans, restoring military memorials, and participating in hundreds of annual events all over the country,” Putin said.
The co-chairman of the 'Immortal Regiment of Russia', Soviet and Russian theater and film actor, Vasily Lanovoy, wonders why such a movement hasn’t emerged earlier: “Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin wrote: "To be proud of the glory of your ancestors is not only possible, but necessary.” Such a national basis existed. I'm surprised that this movement has not started earlier. The movement is amazing, priceless. It was not organized by the authorities, but was born from the inside, and was instantly supported.”
According to Lanvoy, this march was supported by Russians in New York, and in London, and in Berlin, who said: "We will also carry our grandfathers and great-grandfathers on May 9th."
The co-chairman of the Movement criticized the media which stated that people who participated in the march were encouraged by the authorities: “Some newspaper wrote that everything was organized, by buses people were brought from the Moscow region. Is it possible to bring half a million people by buses to Belorusskaya Railway Station? This is nonsense, because nothing was organized. I was under German occupation for three and a half years. I am a child of war. I was 7 years old, this tender age soaks everything in itself, absorbs everything. And I saw how our soldiers retreated. We are from Ukraine, Ukrainians, therefore. I saw airplanes flew above us to bomb Odessa. It goes into your organism for your whole life, and it is preserved.”
