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The Muscovites decide as of this Wednesday, in a popular vote, whether or not to celebrate the New Year in the midst of the military campaign in Ukraine, which some Russian regions have already given up.
The inhabitants of the Russian capital have three options: not to decorate the city and not to hold mass events; celebrate the New Year as is tradition and use the money raised to support the fighters; or celebrate Christmas, but without mass events, and also raise money for soldiers, mobilized and volunteers fighting in Ukraine.
At the time that he called the popular vote on the website of the City Council, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, advocated not canceling the festive events, since, he stated, there is nothing worse than “when people fall into depression and forget their traditions”, what is fair “what the enemy is looking for”.
Furthermore, he stressed, this would only harm millions of people and their small businesses when the economy has entered a recession.
He called on Muscovites to, “Despite the tragic circumstances, continue to be people (…) who believe in victory”as “Thousands of husbands, fathers and sons fight for independence” Of the homeland.
He recalled that Christmas parties were not canceled even in 1942 after the Nazi invasion during the Great Patriotic War and Christmas events were held in trenches, air shelters, factories, theaters and parks.
The second city of the country, St. Petersburghas already renounced celebrating festive events and lighting the streets of the former tsarist capital with Christmas lights.
Meanwhile, the southern region of Krasnodar also canceled festive events and fireworks, while the city of Magadan in Russia’s far east suspended the traditional ice sculpture festival.
In this regard, at the beginning of November the president of the Duma or Chamber of Deputies, Viacheslav Volodin, organized his own vote on his Telegram channel.
24% of the participants spoke in favor of completely canceling the parties, 10% for celebrating them like every year and 65% for limiting them to children’s concerts.
The Ministry of Economy reported today that the Russian GDP contracted 4% in the last quarter, largely due to the sanctions adopted by the West against Russia for the “special military operation” in the neighboring country.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
