Putin Lays Flowers at Monument to Soldiers Killed During Leningrad Siege

Vladimir Putin laid flowers at a monument in the Leningrad Region commemorating warriors who died during the Nazi-led siege of Leningrad.

The monument ‘Boundary Stone’ was built in memory of soldiers who fought during the blockade at Nevsky Pyatachok, some 50 km east south-east of Leningrad. Combat actions there were carried out in order to break through the blockade. Some 50,000 Red Army soldiers and officers were killed in the operation, while Germany’s losses were estimated at 10,000.

According to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the anniversary is "a very important date for the entire country, for all Russians and personally for President Putin." The Russian leader earlier recalled that his father Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin went immediately to the front after the war broke out where he fought and was heavily wounded at Nevsky Pyatachok, near blockaded Leningrad.