Irish parade in Moscow – a day of Russian-Irish friendship

The national Irish holiday St. Patrick's Day was widely celebrated all across the world on Wednesday, and the Russian capital was no exception.

However, the highlight of the festivities, a parade through the center of Moscow, only took place on Sunday.

The first such parade was held in Moscow in 1992. Moscow city authorities are putting great effort into organizing the event. The security was very tight on Moscow’s central Dorogomilovskaya Street, which was also closed to traffic for the time of the parade.

Russians absolutely love to celebrate holidays, even those celebrated by other nations.

Last year about 40,000 people turned up to see or to take part in the traditional Irish parade, including Irish dancing.

This year most of the spectators are naturally Muscovites, but all the Irish people living in Moscow, though the community is rather small, attended the event, said Avril Conroy, the President of the Irish Club in Moscow.

Many in Russia also consider this holiday a day of Russian-Irish friendship, and Dublin reciprocated this year with, for the first time in its history, a three-day Russian festival, which was held in the Irish capital.