Photos of a huge Santa parade in Moscow. Link
Reader comment:
johnboy says: "The story behind those Santas is kinda disturbing and should be attached to that story"
Its purpose and appearance had been painstakingly created to appear benign. Few of the 70,000 or so who gathered were older than teenagers and their uniforms were so incongruous as to be unthreatening. Each was dressed as Grandfather Frost or the Snow Maiden, traditional Russian New Year characters.
Yet, according to Russia's liberal democrats, scenes like this are less a display of benevolence than a show of force. For them, Nashi, the Kremlin-backed youth group behind Sunday's parade, is an alarming throwback to the Soviet era.
As the youngsters swayed to the "patriotic karaoke" emanating from the stage, a voice boomed out from the loudspeakers exhorting them to reinvent Russia's lost glory.
