04 November 2025
In 2025, Russia celebrates the 20th anniversary of the revival of National Unity Day. This holiday symbolizes the idea of national harmony and cohesion within society, where all citizens of Russia — regardless of nationality or beliefs — are one people, united by a shared history and a common future.
National Unity Day was established in memory of the events of 1612, when a people’s militia led by Kuzma Minin, a local elder, and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky liberated Moscow from Polish invaders. In 1613, in remembrance of Moscow’s liberation from the Poles, Tsar Mikhail Romanov declared a church and state holiday in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God — the very icon under which the militia fought and freed the Kremlin.
A monument to “Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky,” created by sculptor Ivan Martos, was erected on Red Square in 1818, by order of Emperor Alexander I.
In Russia, the date of Moscow’s liberation from the invaders was officially celebrated until 1917.
In September 2004, the Interreligious Council of Russia proposed that November 4 be a public holiday called a National Unity Day. The initiative was supported by the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
In honor of National Unity Day, faculty and students from our university prepared a special video—a reading of poems about their small homeland in Russian and first languages.
