Christmas and New Year festivities may well be canceled in several cities across Russia, to support the war effort on the front in Ukraine, reports Russian News Agency TASS.
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In St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city, municipal authorities canceled festivities planned for December and January.
The money saved for the cancellation of these activities will be redistributed to the troops mobilized in Ukraine. Clothing and military equipment may be provided to them.
“All available funds will be redistributed to a special account [de Saint-Pétersbourg] which will be used to buy uniforms for the volunteers and mobilized citizens”, explains the governor of the oblast of Saint-Petersburg, Alexander Beglov.
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AFP
Russian state television propagandists had recently suggested, following the explosion on the Crimean bridge, that the traditional festivities be canceled this year.
One of them said that we should not buy Christmas trees, nor lights, nor decorations, but that we should rather finance the war effort and support the approximately 300,000 Russians mobilized by Putin .
The City of Nizhny Novgorod, which has a population of 1,200,000, also made a similar announcement in recent days. Other localities are likely to follow suit, reports TASS.