Cities across the country were lit up with festive displays
People walk at Zaryadye Park decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities with the Kremlin Wall, the Spasskaya Tower, and the St. Basil’s Cathedral in the background in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. © AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
Russians across 11 time zones have welcomed in 2023, with major cities decorated with festive illumination to celebrate the occasion.
Four thousand lighting structures were put up in Moscow. The traditional Christmas market on Red Square was also opened, offering a merry-go-round, an ice rink and various shops to visitors.
Most of the festivities went ahead as usual, although Russian cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg opted to cancel the fireworks and outdoor concerts that usually mark the country’s best-loved holiday. The authorities and the public agreed that it would be unethical to host huge celebrations when the country’s troops are fighting in Ukraine.
The Kremlin Wall, the Spasskaya Tower, Red Square, the GUM department store, the St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge are decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022. © AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko
A pedestrian holds an umbrella as he walks past Christmas decorations during rainy weather near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow on December 13, 2022. © Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP
Light decorations installed for the coming new year in Moscow, Russia, on December 22, 2022. © Photo by Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The country’s second largest city, St. Petersburg, was also brightly decorated for the occasion, with many residents and tourists taking to the illuminated streets on New Year’s Eve.
People celebrate New year in St. Petersburg, Russia on 31.12.2022. © Sputnik/Alexei Danichev
The Nativity scene at the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 24.12.2022. © Sputnik/Alexander Galperin
Other cities placed large fir trees with toys and ice sculptures on their main squares. In Chita in Russia’s Far East, the sculptures were dedicated to those taking part in Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
A New Year’s tree is seen on the embankment in Gelendzhik, Krasnodar region, Russia on 29.12.2022. © Sputnik/Vitaly Timkiv
New Year’s illumination near the building of the sea station in Murmansk on 12.12.2022. © Sputnik/Pavel Lviv
A view shows an ice town dedicated to Russian servicemen in Lenina Square, in Chita, Russia on 30.12.2022. © Sputnik/Evgeny Yepanchintsev
New Year celebrations also took place in the People’s Republic of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR), as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, which joined the Russian Federation in autumn after holding referendums. There were festivities in Mariupol, which saw heavy fighting in the first months of the conflict, and in Lugansk.
People gather at the Christmas tree decorated for Christmas and the New Year festivities in Luhansk, the capital of Russian-controlled Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. © AP Photo
A couple kisses during New year celebration in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region territory, that has accessed Russia on 31.12.2022. © Sputnik/Konstantin Mihalchevskiy
