Skip to main content

Russia and Putin mark 75 years since WWII siege of Leningrad


ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — The Russian city of St. Petersburg marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the World War II siege by Nazi forces with a large military parade Sunday in the city’s sprawling Palace Square.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later laid flowers at a monument in Piskarevskoye Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of siege victims are buried.
The siege of the city, then called Leningrad, lasted nearly 2½ years until the Soviet Army drove the Nazis away on Jan. 27, 1944.
Estimates of the death toll vary, but historians agree that more than 1 million Leningrad residents died from hunger or air and artillery bombardments during the siege.
On Sunday, more than 2,500 soldiers and 80 units of military equipment paraded as snow fell and temperatures hovered around minus-18 degrees Celsius (0 Fahrenheit). The vehicles included a T-34 tank; such tanks played a key role in defeating the Nazis and became a widely revered symbol of the nation’s wartime valor and suffering.
During the siege, most Leningrad residents had to survive on rations of just 125 grams (less than 0.3 pounds) of bread a day and whatever other food they could buy or exchange at local markets after selling their belongings.
Among those who succumbed to the deprivations of the siege was Putin’s 1-year-old brother. Putin himself was born after the siege, in 1952.
The Russian president did not attend the parade, which some civic groups had objected to as inappropriate, saying the day should commemorate the victims rather than flaunt military strength.
The Kremlin also announced Sunday that Putin had signed an order allocating 150 million rubles ($2.3 million) for creating new exhibits at the state museum of the siege.
“Today we mourn those who died defending Leningrad, who at the cost of their lives broke through the blockade. We recall those who worked in the besieged city, who, risking themselves, delivered bread and medicine along the Road of Life,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote on social media.
Medvedev was referring to the ice road across Lake Ladoga that was the only conduit for supplies and evacuations during much of the siege.
Tamara Chernykh, 81, told The Associated Press that she still can’t forget the tiny pieces of bread that her granny used to put under her pillow as a night treat for a starving four-year-old girl in besieged Leningrad during the deadly winter of 1941-1942.
In the daytime, Chernykh said she and her baby cousin mostly stayed put under several blankets in the darkness. There was no heating during the first and the coldest winter of the siege, when temperatures outside sometimes plunged to -40 degrees Celsius (-40 degrees Fahrenheit).
Chernykh’s grandmother, who gave the bread out of her own scant food ration, said the crumbs would bring good dreams. She died from starvation before the siege ended.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moment epileptic boy chained for two years alongside animals is rescued (videos)

                                              Kebbi State Police Command has arrested a father and his three wives for allegedly chaining the man's 11-year-old son in an animal stall for two years.   The boy, named Jibril Aliyu, from Badariya Area of Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, reportedly lost his mother 2 years ago. His stepmothers allegedly began maltreating him afterwards and denied him proper care.   The epileptic boy was reportedly chained with animals and had to survive by eating remnants of the animals' food. He also sometimes ate his own faeces, Manir Jega who shared videos of the boy's rescue said.   Manir adds: "As a result of monstrous and nefarious treatment he was subjected to, he entirely lost his senses and behaves exactly like an animal."   The Public Relations Officer(PPRO) of the command, DSP Nafi’u Abubakar, confirmed the arre...
Post a Comment
Read more

NBC's N5m fine on radio station over Mailafia’s ‘Boko Haram’ interview is illegal - Falana

                                       Human Rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has stated that the N5 million fine imposed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Nigeria Info 99.3 over Obadiah Mailafia's comment of a northern governor being one of the commanders of Boko Haram, is illegal.    The NBC which imposed the fine on the radio station has alleged that the Mailafia's comment in the interview, violated provisions in the amended sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.    However reacting to this, Falana averred that the amended code under which the radio was fined was yet to come into force. He further disclosed that the investigation being conducted into Dr. Obadiah’s interview by the State Security Service has not been concluded.    Falana said;    “The chairman of the NBC board discl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Police confirm theft of 3-year-old twins in Bayelsa

Nigeria Police Force The Police Command in Bayelsa has confirmed the theft of a set of three-year-old twins on Monday by unknown persons at a motor park in Yenagoa. The Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident on Tuesday in Yenagoa. Butswat said the incident occurred at Ekeki Motor Park in Yenagoa Local Government Area and that it had been officially reported to the command. “According to the report, the assailants stole the babies and ran to an unknown destination. “We have alerted our tactical team for investigations and the perpetrators will be brought to book,” he said. Narrating the incident, the victims’ eldest sister, Fumi, said it took place at a time their mother, Mrs Modupe Joseph, went to a mini market in the area to buy salt. She said, “Our mummy went to Etegwe-Tombia area of Yenagoa to buy salt to cook corn. “The four of us were left in the custody of one Aisha Ahmed at the motor park. “Suddenly, one man appr...
Post a Comment
Read more