The Parade turned Novy Arbat into a bustling Celtic cultural fiesta for all the family featuring over 1000 parade participants including Irish dancing and music groups, Ministry of Defence marching bands, Cossack dancers, performers, fairy tale characters, and decorated ‘floats’ from key participants Pepsi, Aer Rianta International (who run the Duty Free Shops at Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo), DHL, Diageo (Guinness, Bailey’s), The Irish Film Festival in Moscow, and the Irish Diary Board.

At her meetings with Moscow City Government, the Russian side raised the possibility of the opening in Moscow of a branch of a Dublin University. The Lord Mayor was accompanied by representatives by a number of educational institutions in Dublin, but not Trinity College which is the only Irish institution teaching Russian language.

Addressing the crowd estimated to exceed 50,000, The Lord Mayor praised the “openness and forward thinking” of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov with whom she held extensive talks.

She also announced that next year would see the first Maslenitsa celebrations to be staged in Dublin. Celebrating Ireland’s National Day, the Parade has become the largest festivity in Moscow after City Day.

All photographs by Liza Azarova for the Irish Club