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"Alije Parusa" celebration in Saint Petersburg: Graduates set purple sails
Photo: Anatoly Maltsev / EPA
It is a seemingly magical scenery: When the school year ends in Saint Petersburg in northern Russia and the sun doesn't really set at night, the historic city center on the banks of the Neva becomes the backdrop for one of the highlights of city life. A ship with red sails crosses the river, and thousands celebrate on the banks. "Alije Parusa" is the name of the festival, "Purple Sails". The graduating classes in the metropolis celebrate the end of their school career, set sail in the lives of adults.
This was also the case this year: Many schoolchildren celebrated late into the night, pushed through the streets, listened to open-air concerts and cheered fireworks.
Local media put the number of participants at around 40,000 people.
Photo and video recordings testify to the exuberant mood and rather sporadic compliance with the mask requirement.
The beautiful pictures contrast with terrible numbers.
Authorities in the city of five million have reported more than 100 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest figure since the pandemic began.
Although those responsible have suggested several times that they have brought the pandemic under control, Russia is now heading into a violent new wave.
For a long time, Russian politicians wanted to forego far-reaching contact restrictions.
At the beginning of June, the Kremlin in Saint Petersburg demonstratively held the “Saint Petersburg Economic Forum” despite the pandemic.
President Putin praised the forum as a sign that "the world is going back to normal" after the pandemic.
Excess mortality: At least 475,000 dead
A look at the statistics shows that this does not apply to large parts of Russia.
The number of officially newly reported corona cases has risen to over 20,000 per day nationwide.
Authorities and companies are frantically trying to increase the willingness to vaccinate by introducing compulsory vaccinations.
Overall, the Russian authorities put the number of Covid 19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic at 130,000.
Converted to the population, that would be less than the number of people who died from or with the virus in Germany.
But the official data probably only reflects a small part of the truth.
The excess mortality rate since the beginning of the pandemic has been at least 475,000 in Russia.
Saint Petersburg has been particularly hard hit.
Although only about four percent of the entire Russian population live in the city, more than twelve percent of the official corona victims reported nationwide were registered on the Neva with 16,000 deaths.
Spicy: Saint Petersburg is also the venue for several European football championship matches.
Dozens of Finnish fans tested positive after attending a preliminary round match.
And: On July 2nd, a quarter-finals are to be held in the Krestowski Stadium.
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