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MOSCOW MARKS DAY OF RUSSIA WITH PAGEANTRY ON RED SQUARE

MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) - Day of Russia celebrations are full of ceremony and pomp. Lavish pageantry has been presented on Red Square, in the heart of the nation's capital. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin, his predecessor Boris Yeltsin and his wife Naina, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Cabinet ministers, and MPs were watching the colorful show from platforms alongside prominent athletes, artists, researchers, clergymen and other VIPs invited as guests of honor.

Men of the Household Guards Regiment brought a 15x17 meter national flag out of the Kremlin's Savior Tower. Guards cavalrymen then galloped across the square, sporting early-19th-century uniforms. A subsequent historical parade featured the costumes and gear dating from other periods of Russia's military glory, including during the reign of Peter the Great and Catherine II.

Officers and men of Russia's modern-day armed forces then took the stage, filing along with the standards of the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Emergencies Ministry, and the Federal Security Service.

The historical pageantry culminated in a show of military dress and arms of all periods and all branches of the armed forces.

A dance extravaganza followed. Representatives of 89 regions showed off the distinctive dress and dance styles of their respective communities, highlighting Russia's cultural and ethnic diversity.

Similar shows have been staged elsewhere in the country. An estimated one million people attended Independence Day celebrations this morning and afternoon, a Public Security Service official reported.

Independence Day is one of Russia's youngest public holidays, instituted in 1994. It is observed on June 12 to commemorate the National Sovereignty Declaration, which this country's parliament adopted that day in 1990.