Photo: Press Service of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow. Evgeny Samarin

Participants of the commemorative procession carried portraits of relatives and friends — veterans of the Great Patriotic War.

Patriotic action " Immortal Regiment” in Moscow set a record this year. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 750 thousand people took part in it. They carried photographs of their relatives and friends who worked in the rear and fought at the front.

The participants started from the Dynamo metro station. The column of many thousands proceeded along Leningradsky Prospekt, Tverskaya and Tverskaya-Yamskaya streets, through Okhotny Ryad, Manezhnaya and Red Square.

The participants were joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin and. The head of state came out with a portrait of his father, a front-line soldier, and the Mayor of Moscow carried a photo poster with images their relatives who died in the Great Patriotic War.

Sergei Sobyanin noted that the action "Immortal Regiment" is part of the national memory that each of us carries within himself. “There is no such family in Russia in which relatives, relatives in the war, did not die, did not participate in these battles. For me personally, it is very important that I can join this feeling - a sense of solidarity, a sense of common memory, a sense of patriotism, and pay a debt, a tribute to those people who died for us, for the future of Russia, ”he said.

“In our father’s family, four brothers went to the front. Two of them did not return. One of them died in Ukraine, defending Kharkov. The second died in the battle near Moscow, near Rzhev in February 1942. So for me, this is also a holiday, a close, dear holiday that the whole family remembers,” the Mayor of Moscow added.

Sergei Sobyanin also thanked everyone who took part in the procession, despite the inclement weather. “Hundreds of thousands came. All Tverskaya is filled with people. We try to create a holiday for them, organizing concert venues. Even this year, kitchens, tea, soldier’s porridge were installed in such a way as to at least create a festive mood for people in this inclement weather, ”he said.

According to the Mayor of Moscow, festive events continue at all major venues: in parks, squares in the city center and in districts. “In total, somewhere around 140 events, including the largest ones will be on Poklonka, where will it take place concert. Well, in the evening, as always, a big fireworks display. I invite all Muscovites to take part in the festive events,” said the Moscow Mayor.

The Immortal Regiment campaign has been running since 2007. First time in Tomsk locals on Victory Day, they took to the streets of the city with photo portraits of their relatives-front-line soldiers. More than 6,000 Tomsk citizens took part in the solemn procession. In 2015, about 12 million people took part in the Immortal Regiment campaign across Russia. Last year, twice as many participants came out with photo portraits of their veteran relatives - about 24 million people, and the action itself was held in 50 countries. In Moscow . Muscovites and guests of the capital then carried over a million portraits of the defenders of the Motherland.

You can also perpetuate the memory of your relative - a participant in the Great Patriotic War, tell about his life, show photos on the website "Immortal Regiment. Moscow" . V eBook There are already more than 178 thousand entries in memory about the participants of the Great Patriotic War and home front workers.

The authorities of Ecuador have deprived Julian Assange of asylum in the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks is detained by the British police, and this has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why is Assange being avenged and what awaits him?

Julian Assange, a programmer and journalist from Australia, became widely known after the website WikiLeaks, founded by him, published secret documents of the US State Department, as well as materials related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010.

But it was quite difficult to find out who the policemen, supporting by the arms, were taking out of the building. Assange grew a beard and did not look at all like the energetic man that he had so far presented in photographs.

According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange's asylum was denied because of his repeated violations of international conventions.

He is expected to remain at a police station in central London until he appears before Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Why the President of Ecuador is accused of betrayal

Former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa called the decision of the current government the biggest betrayal in the history of the country. "What he (Moreno. - Approx. ed.) did is a crime that humanity will never forget," Correa said.

London, on the contrary, thanked Moreno. The British Foreign Office believes that justice has prevailed. The representative of the Russian diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, has a different opinion. "The hand of 'democracy' is squeezing the throat of freedom," she said. The Kremlin expressed the hope that the rights of the arrested person would be respected.

Ecuador harbored Assange because the former president was center-left, critical of US policy, and welcomed WikiLeaks' release of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the Internet activist needed asylum, he managed to get to know Correa personally: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.

However, in 2017, the government in Ecuador changed, the country headed for rapprochement with the United States. The new president called Assange "a stone in the shoe" and immediately made it clear that his stay on the territory of the embassy would not be delayed.

According to Correa, the moment of truth came at the end of June last year, when US Vice President Michael Pence arrived in Ecuador on a visit. Then everything was decided. "You can be sure: Lenin is just a hypocrite. He has already agreed with the Americans about the fate of Assange. And now he is trying to make us swallow the pill, saying that Ecuador allegedly continues the dialogue," Correa said in an interview with Russia Today.

How Assange made new enemies

The day before the arrest Chief Editor WikiLeaks Kristin Hrafnsson said that Assange was under total surveillance. "WikiLeaks uncovered a massive spy operation against Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy," he said. According to him, cameras and voice recorders were placed around Assange, and the information received was transmitted to the administration of Donald Trump.

Hrafnsson specified that Assange was going to be expelled from the embassy a week earlier. This did not happen only because WikiLeaks made public this information. A high-ranking source told the portal about the plans of the Ecuadorian authorities, but the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Jose Valencia, denied the rumors.

Assange's expulsion was preceded by a corruption scandal involving Moreno. In February, WikiLeaks published the INA Papers package, which traced the operations of the offshore company INA Investment, founded by the brother of the Ecuadorian leader. In Quito, they said that this was a plot by Assange with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former head of Ecuador Rafael Correa to overthrow Moreno.

In early April, Moreno complained about Assange's behavior in Ecuador's London mission. “We have to protect the life of Mr. Assange, but he has already crossed all the lines in terms of violating the agreement that we reached with him,” the president said. “This does not mean that he cannot speak freely, but he cannot lie and hack ". At the same time, back in February last year, it became known that Assange at the embassy was deprived of the opportunity to interact with outside world, in particular, he was turned off access to the Internet.

Why Sweden stopped persecuting Assange

At the end of last year, Western media, citing sources, reported that Assange would be charged in the United States. This was never officially confirmed, but it was precisely because of Washington's position that Assange had to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy six years ago.

Sweden, in May 2017, stopped investigating two cases of rape in which the founder of the portal was accused. Assange demanded compensation from the country's government for legal costs in the amount of 900,000 euros.

Earlier, in 2015, Swedish prosecutors also dropped three charges against him due to the statute of limitations.

Where did the rape investigation lead?

Assange arrived in Sweden in the summer of 2010, hoping to get protection from US authorities. But he was under investigation for rape. In November 2010, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Stockholm, and Assange was put on the international wanted list. He was detained in London, but was soon released on bail of 240 thousand pounds.

In February 2011, a British court ruled to extradite Assange to Sweden, followed by a series of successful appeals for the founder of WikiLeaks.

The British authorities placed him under house arrest before deciding to extradite him to Sweden. Breaking his promise to the authorities, Assange asked for asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​which was granted to him. Since then, the UK has had its own grievances against the founder of WikiLeaks.

What's next for Assange?

The man was re-arrested following a U.S. extradition request for publishing classified documents, police said. At the same time, Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Duncan said that Assange would not be sent to the United States if he faced the death penalty there.

In the UK, Assange is likely to appear in court on the afternoon of 11 April. This is stated on the WikiLeaks Twitter page. It is likely that the British authorities will seek a maximum sentence of 12 months, the man's mother said, citing his lawyer.

At the same time, the Swedish prosecutor's office is considering reopening the investigation into the rape allegation. Lawyer Elizabeth Massey Fritz, who represented the interests of the victim, will seek this.

Exactly at 22:00, the first volleys of fireworks will thunder. There will come, in the literal sense, the brightest moment on May 9th. Looking into the evening sky, everyone will think of his own. But there is something that unites this day. With simple and warm thoughts, today almost eight million people across Russia took part in the Immortal Regiment procession. Two million more than last year. The action became truly nationwide. 850 thousand people came out in Moscow alone. It has become important to all of us.

Especially from a bird's eye view, you can see how this river of life and memory stretches through the center of Moscow. A real sea of ​​people. And the day that united, the thread of Victory connected all generations - both those who died in battles and the living; and those who had this happiness - to kiss their hands and hug them tightly, thanking them for a peaceful life, and those who know their heroes only from stories and letters, from not always clear photographs that are kept at home as the most valuable memory. They took them out today for everyone to see - here he is, my hero!

Between the Dynamo metro station and the square Belorussky railway station an hour before the start of the procession, a complete sense of celebration reigns. With us now are all those who decided to walk this path in its entirety - almost six kilometers to Vasilyevsky Spusk and always by iconic place. After all, here, on the platform of the Belorussky railway station, they said goodbye in 1941, seeing them off to the front, and rejoiced when they met those who survived and gave victory.

Faces, all as one, simple and open. Eyes that know the price of life and such expensive happiness - to live without war, without fear and tears. Their gift to us, the current one, cannot be appreciated by anything. All that we can do is just to go along with them in the same formation, squeezing frames with unclear photographs to white knuckles and guessing similar features in their great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren on the go.

Someone has no cards with their heroes left at all. And the time was difficult - not up to photos. And some just didn't survive terrible years. But the important thing is that the memory is alive. And many carry whole scatterings of photographs. Families went to war.

“This is my father, this is his uncle, they survived after the war. And the older brother - he went missing. These are three brothers, all survived. And one lost his memory and lost his family,” say the participants of the procession.

Looking at the portraits, you clearly understand: from the first day they all believed in the Victory, that they would soon return home, but their fighting friends would never be forgotten. They believed, and therefore did not extinguish the living feelings in themselves for the most dear and beloved, who knew how to wait like no one else.

An amazing story happened almost live today. Two sisters, who had never seen each other for 60 years, met during the "Immortal Regiment" - they recognized each other from identical photographs and told Channel One journalist Pavel Krasnov about their father.

“My granddaughter suddenly saw a portrait of our grandfather, my father. We approach, I say: you must be Lena! Daughter by his first wife. And this is our father. And so we met today, ”says the participant of the action.

In the column of the "Immortal Regiment" today - and Vladimir Putin with a portrait of his father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin. He went to the front in June 1941 and, defending the Nevsky Piglet, a key bridgehead during the breakthrough Leningrad blockade, was seriously wounded by a grenade fragment. And today there is not a single soldier's fate, and even more so, a feat that would not irritate the soul.

How often after the war they tried to find each other. That pain ached, and front-line friendship was stronger than tank armor, haunted. "Where are you now, fellow soldiers?" they whispered all their lives like a prayer. And everywhere it seems to be spreading today: “We are all here!”

People are cheerful and friendly, sincere and cheerful. But to fully describe the sensations from here, from inside the procession in simple words impossible. Today is quite cool, but it seems that the air itself is heated by emotions. Here, on Pushkin Square, we are no longer hundreds, and not even thousands, but tens of thousands - people with portraits flock from all the surrounding lanes. As they say, our regiment arrives, and ahead is the heart of the capital.

For the first time in 75 years, in the hands of a great-great-grandson, a wooden harmonica sang “Katyusha” to the delight of people today.

“Our great-grandfather, he loved her, he never parted with her. Unfortunately, he died. And finally, we convey these sounds, this joy to the rest of the people,” says the participant of the action.

Much of what keeps the warmth of the hands of the winners, their descendants today took with them.

“This is my grandfather's helmet. He was a tanker until he became a pilot. It was very noisy during the war, there were explosions, and therefore it was specially made so that at least a little they could not be heard, it was quiet, ”says a participant in the procession.

Military marches on bagpipes are not at all exotic for good spirits. Another reminder that this was our common victory over fascism with the allied countries, from where dozens of descendants of World War II soldiers also came. Thomas Connolly - Scottish Guardsman. Thrashed the Nazis in France, Belgium and Germany. His son Gordon Connolly says he couldn't help but get out.

“This war united everyone and showed what a feat Russia has accomplished for the whole world. My father told me that we owe you for the fact that we now live in the world - it was you who lost millions of people, more than all other countries, ”he says.

"My father fought shoulder to shoulder with Soviet soldiers. Said they were great guys. He liberated Europe, and it is very important to me that today he is at this grand celebration,” says John Paterson, the son of a World War II veteran.

For the first time, the grandson of Yuri Nikulin, his full namesake, along with great-grandchildren Stanislav and Sofya, are walking with a portrait of their famous grandfather in the Immortal Regiment. Senior Sergeant Nikulin was awarded with medals"For Courage" and "For the Defense of Leningrad". It is not easy to recognize in this picture another legend of our cinema - at the front, Anatoly Papanov commanded a platoon of anti-aircraft artillery, and in 1942 he was seriously wounded.

“For him, of course, Victory Day was the most important holiday of the year. He put on his orders, medals, because he had them. When their platoon occupied some village, and the whole village was burned, and in the morning they hear that a rooster is crowing! Dad says: we covered him with an overcoat, gave him some water, fed him something, and they had this rooster as a symbol of peaceful life, ”says Elena Papanova, daughter of Anatoly Papanov.

“Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, my grandfather’s sister, and today people come up and ask. This is the same Zoya who was in the partisan detachment, who was the first female hero Soviet Union. This is my duty, and it is very important for me that her feat is not forgotten. And so that people remember those who fought for them in the Great Patriotic War,” says German Kosmodemyansky, a descendant of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

The most poignant stories in this ocean of people are, perhaps, the fate of the “children of the regiment”, boys who had to go through something that even many adults could hardly do.

“At the age of 13, he was left an orphan, his parents died, and he was picked up by troops passing by,” says a participant in the procession.

And how many more such front-line stories, told in a voice trembling with excitement, how many soldiers' destinies and views - a myriad. But each of us is here today only to bow and say to those who did not spare themselves under fire and in the rear: thank you, dear ones, for the Victory! Thanks for sticking with the price!

“We are grateful to them for the Victory, for this world that we now have. They had a dream to walk along Red Square during the parade. Thanks to this action, we can make their dream come true. I brought my dad here, he died in February 1942. And so I brought him to feel that he contributed to this victory. It is important for us to see our grandfather, because he himself could not pass here. I would like that he, even if on our hands, but passed here, today on this day. This is our family holiday, our family tradition. We want to pass this on to our great-grandchildren, my daughter. We remember how they celebrated this holiday when they were alive. We were not told a lot, this is a holiday with tears in our eyes. But it was clear from their faces what they had gone through,” say the participants in the Immortal Regiment action.

Here, on Red Square, it seems that people from portraits even look at us somehow especially warmly. These eyes, which have seen a lot of grief and horror, seem to ask us after a while: do not let this happen again! And silently thank those who gave life. For the fact that they remember, appreciate and understand how important it is for them, who have gone down in history forever, to be together here and now. Walk in this quiet formation. Rather, even float over our heads in the same place where the peaceful sky is.

For more than three hours this endless stream of smiles and glances did not subside. This series of thoughtful and cheerful faces. The songs of those years, bitter and joyful stories did not stop. And the May evening was filled with a clear feeling that everyone did not carry the portrait of the hero, but led him, his own, through all of Moscow, holding tightly by the hand.

On May 9, the Immortal Regiment procession will take place on Red Square - a civil initiative to perpetuate the feat of the soldiers of the Great Patriotic War, preserve the memory of the valor and heroism of the people, as well as patriotic education of present and future generations.

Participation in the action implies that every citizen who honors the memory of his veteran relative goes to the Victory Parade with his photograph, taking a place in the Immortal Regiment column.

To join the procession of the Immortal Regiment, you just need to come with a portrait of your relative - a participant in the Great Patriotic War, who contributed to the victory over fascism, both at the front and in the rear.

Driving route

From the metro station "Dinamo" along Leningradsky Prospekt, Tverskaya Street, Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, through Okhotny Ryad, Manezhnaya and Red Square. Further, the procession column is distributed along the Moskvoretskaya Embankment and the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge.

The history of the action began in 2007 in Tyumen and was called the "Parade of Winners". It began to be called the “Immortal Regiment” from the moment the 2012 march was held in Tomsk, and already in 2013 it spread to 120 cities. In 2014, residents of 500 cities in seven countries took to the streets with portraits of front-line soldiers. Since 2015, the action has officially become nationwide.

The weather was not too happy - it was drizzling, even the air unit in the parade was canceled.
It’s good that we had time to admire the seventh in the bright sun and clear sky.
Headed, as usual, to Pushkinskaya.
I thought that the exit would already be closed, I would get to Belorusskaya, go to Pushkinskaya and go home.
And they still let us out, although it was already the second hour.
Here are the first met participants of the march on Strastnoe

Gone through the frame

People are walking along Tverskaya from Mayakovskaya - Belorusskaya - Dynamo.
While free, we line up and go down to Red Square.

For those who arrived a long time ago and managed to get hungry - a field kitchen.
They also distribute water.

The column is gradually compacted.
Footage of satellites in procession
Young people

At the house at seven on Tverskaya we stopped to wait for the march on Red Square.
From time to time in the column thundered Hurray! - starting from below from Okhotny and going up, beyond Tverskaya-Yamskaya. It sounded amazingly powerful. Pleased.
The loudspeakers played songs from the war years, very old and newer.
They sang along, including the youth.
It started to rain harder, even with snow there was a short-term charge, literally a few minutes,
and then the sky began to clear.
At about 2:50 pm, our part of the column began to move, and they walked without stopping.

The Historical Museum column flowed around in two streams, I walked on the right

There are a lot of policemen

And even more Victory volunteers

It's all together

Spectators

The police are urging - Come in, come in, do not linger!

Varvarka is blocked, we go to Kitay-gorod by a roundabout way under the bridge and along the embankment.
It's impossible to get lost.

It should be mentioned that under the bridge and further up to the metro itself, toilets were installed in large numbers, there were a maximum of two or three people in a queue.
This is not for us May Day demonstrations in Leningrad, where the one and only was waiting
suffering at the Champ de Mars.
:)

The nearest entrances - at Varvarka which are overcrowded, went to the one at Ilyinka.
On the way, two monuments clicked

It was interesting to participate in the march of the Immortal Regiment.