This year's celebration continued the tradition of holding a Student March on Kremlevskaya Street.

More than 3,000 students marched today, April 30th, from Kazan Kremlin to the University's main building. The central place was occupied by the Immortal Regiment, a company of people holding portraits of their ancestors who fought in World War II.

This year the March was joined by our guests from other federal universities of Russia. A decision was made that since 2017 all ten federal universities will conduct similar events in their cities to commemorate the heroes.

Although the official date of the Victory Day in Russia is May 9th, April 30th was chosen as the convenient date before May holidays and other official celebrations that take place on the day itself.

The ceremony was joined by the representatives of the government and parliament of Tatarstan and Kazan municipal administration.

Naturally, the most attention was paid to veterans that worked or studied at KFU. Time goes by, and every year their numbers dwindle. In 2015 all the names of KFU's students and teachers who left for the front were placed on the Memorial Wall in the University Garden behind the main building.

At the conclusion of the ceremony 1,418 red balloons (the number of days in the war) and 71 white pigeons (standing for the 71st anniversary) were released into the sky.

Later in the day the veterans had their own holiday program, and the evening will be marked by the traditional Student Spring gala.