Matvienko together with citizens of St. Petersburg laid flowers at Piskarevskoye cemetery

Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery on January 27 on the 81st anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade.

"I want to congratulate everyone on the day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. I want to express words of deepest gratitude, gratitude to all the defenders, residents of the blockade of Leningrad, wherever they are now. I want to pay tribute to those who are no longer with us: those who defended Leningrad, those who died for Leningrad, all those who were not broken by inhuman, severe trials, who did not surrender to the enemy," Matvienko said.

The Speaker of the Council of the Russian Federation noted that the Russian government will do everything possible to ensure that the memory of the Great Patriotic War is passed on to the next generations.

The citizens of St. Petersburg gathered at the monument "Motherland" from the very morning. Citizens, including children and the elderly, veterans, representatives of organizations, as well as the governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, State Duma deputy Nikolai Valuev and Matvienko - hundreds of people came to lay flowers and honor the memory of the heroes and residents of the blockade of Leningrad.

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Earlier, on January 25, the Russian Embassy in the United States congratulated the veterans living there on the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the siege of Leningrad. Embassy staff handed over Beglov's message on the occasion of the memorable date, and also handed over anniversary diaries prepared about the main milestones of the Great Patriotic War.

Leningrad was completely liberated from German troops on January 27, 1944. This year marks the 81st anniversary of the lifting of the blockade.

The siege of the city lasted 872 days and claimed the lives of more than 1 million people. It was possible to break through the Nazi ring, which had tightened around the city, at the sixth attempt thanks to the operation "Spark". The only way to deliver food to the besieged city was the Road of Life, laid on the ice of Ladoga. On January 27, 1944 the blockade was lifted.