Thousands of young people gathered in Red Square on Friday for a concert. There are long queues in front of the entrance, mainly young people waiting to pass through the control gates. A selection of Russian artists will be performed in honor of Reunification Day at 6:30pm local time.

“Reunification” refers to areas in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson that the Russian military does not fully control after more than a year and a half of war. In Ukraine and the West they call it a link.

It is estimated that about 90 percent of concertgoers are in their teens or twenties. So the pro-Kremlin group Mega Volunteer Moscow has indicated an age limit for visitors: “Preferably under 35, but older is also possible.”

Igor, an eighteen-year-old student with round glasses and straight hair in a ponytail, stands a little apart with a group of friends against the fence of the Alexander Garden, against the walls of the Kremlin. “I’m here to support my country,” Igor says firmly.

According to the independent Russian news site Medusa, the authorities, as is often the case in Russia, gathered students and civil servants to attend the party in Red Square. The former category gets the credit for its existence, the latter according to Medusa.

But this does not apply to Igor, he says. “I got out of myself. People are not sent, at most they are asked to go.

According to the Telegram channel ‘We will explain’, the extra people who attended the same event last year in honor of the Ukrainian territories collected 1,500 rubles (about 15 euros), this time they are less than half: the maximum is 600 rubles.

On the Manegeplein, near the statue of the famous Marshal Zhukov on horseback, is a group of slightly older men. They carried an orange-and-black flag, the colors of victory over Nazi Germany, with Putin’s photo on it. “For the Motherland, for the Sovereign, for the President!” It is written on the flag.

One of them is Nikita (36). “I support the course of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army (Putin, ed.),” he solemnly explains his presence at the upcoming event. “The US and NATO should no longer interfere in the former Soviet Union. It should be restored by holding a referendum in all the former republics,” Nikita dreams.

His friends have now expressed themselves less diplomatically, posting a video of themselves wrapped around their flag. As the camera rolls, they shout in unison: “America and NATO, get out of here!”