November 4 was first introduced as National Unity Day last year to mark Moscow's liberation from Polish invaders in 1612, replacing November 7, the day commemorating the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Last year, 3,000 people from radical right movements, including the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, the Russian National Union, the National Patriotic Front Memory, and skinheads gathered for the Right March in central Moscow. Marchers chanted nationalist slogans like "Russia for Russians."
"It would be fair if the Moscow mayor addressed residents of Moscow, explaining to them what happened last year and is planned for this year, and headed the anti-Nazi procession himself," said Alexander Brod, head of the Moscow human rights bureau.
This would show that Moscow chooses tolerance for the sake of peace and accord, Brod said. He was supported by other human rights advocates attending the news conference.
"It is not only the mayor's participation that is important, but also willingness of those who share humanistic views to take part in the event," said Vladimir Novitsky, president of the Russian division of the International Society for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization.
He said ideally Moscow authorities would refuse to sanction the ultra-right march altogether.
