MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will be marking National Unity Day Friday, November 4, for the first time.
On this day in 1612, a national uprising led by Kuzna Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky liberated the Kremlin of Moscow from Polish occupants.
"At that time, people of various creeds, ethnicities, and social strata united to save their homeland and to defend Russia's statehood," President Vladimir Putin said ahead of the holiday.
Political parties and public organizations will hold various events all over the country to mark the holiday.
Alexy II, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, will lead the celebrations in Nizhny Novgorod, northwestern Russia, where the popular uprising began four centuries ago. Alexy II will also unveil a monument to Minin and Pozharsky.
November 4 replaced another national holiday, November 7, formerly marked as the day of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
