Vladimir Putin: We Must Never Forget about Siege of Leningrad
SAINT PETERSBURG, January 27. 'Our duty is to make sure that our children and our children's children never forget about the siege of Leningrad.' As Rosbalt reports, this was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin while speaking at a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the siege.
The president said the city and country were able to survive the war because 'those in Leningrad were not just thinking of themselves but, most importantly, of the country and the state as a whole. The besieged city sent weapons to the front during the battle near Moscow.' Mr Putin pointed out that those living in the besieged city managed to make Leningrad 'a genuine defensive enterprise and an arsenal of weaponry: when the enemy arrived at the Kirov Plant, many of the workers took up arms to fight while the others continued to produce tanks.'
Speaking to veterans the president said that 'the enemy thought of everything - the number of tanks, planes and ammunition - but it forgot to consider our national temperament, the unequalled courage of the people of Leningrad and their love for their city.'
The president added that 'the price of victory was extremely high - hundreds of thousands of local people lie buried in the graves at the Piskarevsky cemetery.'
http://www.rosbaltnews.com/2004/01/27/65469.html
