Statue of Vladimir the Great erected in Moscow

Moscow Borovitskaya Square's hosted an ceremony to commemorate the erection of a new statue of Vladimir the Great, reported a Meduza correspondent at the scene.

Vladimir Putin, Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, and other officials partook in the ceremony.

The statue was erected beside the Kremlin in light of Unity Day – a national holiday in Russia. Unity Day is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of Moscow’s liberation from under Polish occupation in November 1612. The liberation occurred by national uprising and was a turning point in the Polish-Muscovite War (1605–1618).

Unity Day was introduced as a federal holiday in 2005 to replace another federal holiday that took place annually on November 7. Day of Reconciliation and Accord, as the replaced holiday was called, was, in turn, itself introduced in 1992 to replace an old Soviet holiday commemorating the October Revolution, that too took place on November 7.