The opposition rally "March of Millions" took place in Moscow on Russia Day, June 12. Dissatisfied with the new law on rallies, detentions and searches in the apartments of oppositionists, thousands of people, according to various estimates, took to the streets of the city. Despite the rainy weather, the procession and the subsequent rally went well and ended peacefully.
The opposition march was previously agreed with the authorities. People dissatisfied with Putin's reforms with posters, flags and banners marched from Pushkinskaya Square to Akademik Sakharov Avenue. The organizers of the march - blogger Alexei Navalny, leader of the Left Front Sergei Udaltsov, journalist Olga Romanova, Garry Kasparov, Sergei Parkhomenko and other well-known oppositionists - urged their like-minded people to gather on Pushkin Square at 1 pm. However, the people began to catch up by 11 o'clock, despite the thickening clouds in the sky.
Liberals from the civic group Solidarity and an activist from the Left Front were joined by nationalists and anarchists. Many carried posters in support of Pussy Riot. At 14:30 Moscow time, a rally began on Sakharov Avenue, at which Sergei Udaltsov spoke (despite the summons for interrogation at the Investigative Committee), Boris Nemtsov, Ilya Ponomarev, Dmitry Bykov, Mikhail Kasyanov, Gennady Gudkov and other opponents of the Putin government. Most of the speakers demanded the release of participants in the opposition rally on May 6 who were imprisoned for clashes with law enforcement officers. The opposition did not call for a revolution, but demanded the peaceful resignation of the government and the president and the holding of new, fair elections.
After the speeches of the speakers, a rock concert began on stage, but most of the participants preferred to go home to shelter from the pouring rain. According to the organizers' estimates, about 120,000 people came to the “March of Millions”. However, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate estimates the scale of the action much more modestly - about 18 thousand people. On the whole, the protest action against the authorities took place quite peacefully, without provocations from the authorities or radical flanks of the opposition.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov positively commented on the protest, noting that such processions testify to the emergence of a new political culture in the country.
