A second day of festivities to celebrate Moscow's 861st birthday ended with a concert on the city's central Tverskoi square.

Joining Muscovites in the festivities were the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow's mayor Yury Luzhkov, as well as the presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

President Medvedev said: “Dear friends, I sincerely congratulate you on City Day. Moscow has almost nine centuries of history. Though preserving the past, Moscow is also up to date and maybe even a bit ahead of time. If we look at the development of Moscow over past years it becomes obvious that the focus of attention is the well-being of the people, business and creative energy.”

On Sunday evening one hundred thousand students will take part in a parade, an annual tradition called the 'March of Students'. Moscow's schools and universities began their new academic year last week.

A total of five thousand events have been planned in the city over the weekend.