Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan. 27 delivered a hard-hitting, poignant address to the Leningrad Victory concert, St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). It was dedicated to the 80th “Anniversary of Victory,” and the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade.
Putin addressed the audience, on that 900-day siege of World War II, the war’s longest, in which as many as 1.5 million perished. He also presented veterans with jubilee medals, “80 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”
“Congratulations on the anniversary of the complete lifting of the siege of courageous and unconquered Leningrad. Happy holiday!
“For us, residents of Leningrad, January 27, 1944, marks a special date which is honored in every family whose relatives went through harrowing and unimaginable ordeals of the siege. …
“Friends, the siege of Leningrad was unprecedented in its cruelty and cynicism. The enemy sought to obliterate the city from the face of the earth, to encircle it and annihilate it through bombings and artillery strikes, and to starve the civilians to death.