"The municipal administration has to say with pain that the preceding ten days saw a sequence of terror acts in Russia and its capital. Several tens of civilians died in the tragedies. Every Muscovite is in anguish with an inhuman capture of schoolchildren in North Ossetia," says an official statement signed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.
"The situation has forced municipal authorities to cancel all City Day official and public galas.
"This resolution does not mean we Muscovites are afraid of terrorists. We were not afraid of nazis in the grim year 1941. We were staunch-and we won. Terrorists will not intimidate us now. Moscow is Russia's capital, and it must always be at one with the whole country. We have made our decision as Muscovites.
"With this, we are wrathfully denouncing the barbarous banditry. We express solidarity with the North Ossetian people. We express heartfelt compassion with all injured and bereaved in the terror acts in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia."
The city fathers say they are sure the public will understand and approve their decision.
City Day is celebrated on anniversaries of the first reference to Moscow in mediaeval chronicles. The city has its 857th birthday this year. City Day galas were established 17 years ago. Their grand scale was drastically reduced in 2000 to mourn several tragedies in August-the Kursk nuclear submarine wrecked in the Barents Sea, a blast hit a congested underground passage in Pushkin Square in Moscow's heart, and there was a conflagration in the Ostankino television tower.
