"If we didn't know how to compassionately help and share, Leningrad wouldn't have survived"

On January 27, St. Petersburg celebrated one of the most important dates in the history of the city and the Great Patriotic War: the 81st anniversary of the complete lifting of the Nazi blockade of Leningrad. Many of the "children of the blockade" are still alive, they clearly remember those terrible 872 days and shared their memories at the events that took place on this day in the city. Vladimir Putin, for whom this period of history is of deep personal significance, also took part in them. The head of state promised that the feat of defying Leningrad will never be forgotten. This blockade is unprecedented in the scale of cruelty and heinous crimes against humanity, the head of state emphasized. He also laid flowers at the monument "Rubizhny Stone" on the Nevsky Pit and visited the largest mass grave of the Second World War - Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery.

How the anniversary of the lifting of the blockade was celebrated

January 27 marks one of the most important dates in the history of the Great Victory - the anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. It happened 81 years ago. The blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days. Figures of losses vary to this day, but according to average estimates, it took the lives of more than 1 million people. On this day, Vladimir Putin traditionally came to St. Petersburg, his hometown, for whom, as for many residents, what happened was a personal tragedy.

The first thing the President went to lay flowers at the monument "Rubizhny Stone", which is located on the Nevsky Heel. This is the place with which one of the most tragic and heroic pages in the history of the Battle of Leningrad is connected. Here on the night of September 20, 1941, a battalion of the 115th Infantry Division on fishing boats and makeshift rafts managed to secretly cross to the left bank of the Neva River and a sudden attack to knock the Germans out of the advanced positions. The soldiers gained a foothold on this piece of land and every day repelled 12-16 attacks. Among those who fought here was Vladimir Putin's father Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin. He was seriously wounded, but he was saved by a battle comrade, who ferried Putin senior under fire to the right bank of the river to the hospital.

Next, the head of state visited the Piskarev Memorial Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the monument "Mother Motherland" in memory of the victims of the blockade. A bouquet of flowers also appeared at one of the mass graves, where the President's brother Viktor, who died in the siege of Leningrad in 1942, rests. In total, about half a million residents and defenders of the Siege of Leningrad are buried in the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery - it is the largest mass grave of the Second World War.

- For us, Leningraders, January 27, 1944 is a special date. It is honored in every family whose relatives went through the terrible, unthinkable trials of the blockade. The massive feat of the besieged city will never be forgotten. They, our veterans, have left their descendants for centuries to come an example of selflessness, mercy, cohesion and true patriotism - those high human qualities that at all times invariably strengthen our self-confidence and strength, - said the President at the concert "Leningrad Victory", which he attended on the same day.

Leningrad resident Vyacheslav Lyalin, who was only 2.5 years old at the time of the blockade, lived "in the ring" for all 872 days. He told Izvestia that his parents came to Leningrad before the revolution and lived a "normal, calm and happy life" before the Nazi attack. Nothing foreshadowed the beginning of the horror that faced the city.

- Our family had many children," recalls Vyacheslav Lyalin. - My grandfather rented an apartment from the landlady of the house on Perekupnoy Lane, 7 - it was the sixth floor, apartment 33. And our relatives lived on Pereputny Lane, house 9 on the first floor. And during the blockade, when the air raid alarm sounded, my grandmother and I went down to our relatives on the first floor - through the courtyard. And then the bomb hit this very house. It went through all the floors. And it stayed on the second floor without exploding. It was above the room where our whole family - adults and children - was at that moment. What is fixed in my memory for a long time is the mirror hanging over the automatics. I was grabbed by my uncle, who was 14 years old, and jumped out into the street. My mother grabbed another child and also jumped out into the yard," Vyacheslav Lyalin recalled.

Putin presented medals to the defenders of Leningrad on the 80th anniversary of the Victory

Children of the blockade came to the solemn concert "Leningrad Victory" in the concert hall "Oktyabrsky". Leningraders whose ancestors died during the terrible blockade were invited here. In the foyer of the concert hall the atmosphere was rather solemn and triumphant: all familiar songs of the Victory were played, and under the favorite "Smuglyanka" the invited people started dancing. But at the same time all of them with a heavy heart told both journalists and the younger generation represented by volunteers and Suvorovtsy students about what they had to endure.

- My father went to the front, my mother worked. We lived on Saltykova-Shchedrin, Kirochnaya now, near the Tavrichesky Garden. Mom would go to work at the Kirov factory on foot. Sometimes she didn't even come home at night when there was shelling. I had a little brother, and I only remember that he and I lay dressed and waited for my mother to come and give us a piece of bread. We didn't talk, it was just one word: "Bread." The little brother, the youngest, died of hunger. I was left alone. It was hell on earth," said Valentina Belyaeva.

Another elderly lady, who preferred not to give her name and did not want unnecessary attention, at some point embraced me and quietly asked: "Do you want me to tell you what I remember every winter? That crackle of ice and the crunch of snow that I heard on the Road of Life.

- And I, you know, I really regret that in my time, when Mommy was alive, I didn't ask her about it, and she didn't tell me anything herself. We used to run to the local bomb shelter and hide under the bed with my little sister. That's all I remember from my mom's stories. It was a very hard time. But we are Leningraders, and if we were not united, if we did not help each other, if we did not know how to be compassionate, to help and share some pieces, edges, crusts, probably Leningrad would not have survived, - recalls Larisa Luzhina.

At the concert were invited and the main, honored guests - veterans who defended the hero-city during the siege. To the applause of the crowd of almost four thousand and the sounds of the orchestra, they came on stage accompanied by young Suvorov students. With tears in their eyes and a gaze still remembering the horrors that Leningrad endured, the veterans took their seats. They are 102-year-old Arkady Zabezhinsky and Ekaterina Tuturova, 100-year-old Vladimir Berchikov and Zinovy Merkin, 98-year-old Alexandra Leshchuk, 97-year-old Mikhail Moroz and 90-year-old blockade survivor Elena Tikhomirova. Many awardees participated not only in the defense of Leningrad, but also in the defense of Moscow, the liberation of Belarus, Poland and the Baltic States.

Vladimir Putin presented each of them for the first time jubilee medals "80 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945". It was established on September 2, 2024 by presidential decree. On the front side is a composition depicting the figure of a victorious warrior hoisting the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building. To the left and in the center is the image of a salute. At the top are the numbers "1945" and "2025", and at the bottom, on the circumference, two laurel branches and a faceted five-pointed star.

A new memorial complex dedicated to the Battle of Leningrad

Vladimir Putin said that the siege of Leningrad was unprecedented in its cruelty and cynicism: the enemy planned to wipe the city off the face of the earth, to encircle it and destroy it by bombing and artillery strikes, and to starve the civilians to death.

This part of the history of the Second World War, according to the President, ranks among such heinous crimes against humanity as the Holocaust, the international day of remembrance of the victims of which, incidentally, is also celebrated on January 27. On this day in 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz, which was located in Poland. During the existence of the concentration camp there were killed more than 1.1 million people, including about 1 million Jews.

Vladimir Putin also honored the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The Russian president has first-hand knowledge of the horrors that took place in one of the worst death camps. Exactly 20 years ago, on January 27, 2005, he personally arrived in Krakow, Poland, to commemorate the victims of Auschwitz. Together with the head of state, former concentration camp inmate Irina Kharina and Ivan Martynushkin flew from Moscow - he was among the first Soviet soldiers who entered Auschwitz.

Toward the end of the day, Vladimir Putin familiarized himself with plans to create a new memorial complex dedicated to the Battle of Leningrad. At a working meeting with St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, he inspected the layout and expressed confidence that the memorial will turn out to be beautiful.

The complex will be located on Pulkovskiye Heights, in the historic neighborhood of Bolshoye Pulkovo. It was in this place for 2.5 years that the units of the 42nd Army of the Leningrad Front held the defense. They were able to stop the enemy on the outskirts of the city in 1941, and near this place the fallen soldiers are buried in fraternal military graves.