Russia is marking the 72nd anniversary of the lifting of the Leningrad Blockade.
A metronome, which beat as the heart of Leningrad during the 900 day siege and stopped in May 1945, can be heard on the streets of St. Petersburg once again.
Today it will count a minute of silence at 14 Nevsky Prospect, which will begin the event, dedicated to the 72nd anniversary of the lifting of the Leningrad Blockade.
On this day the citizens come to the most famous locations of the blockade - to the sign "Citizens, be careful when shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous!" at 14 Nevsky Prospect, and the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery. The wreath-laying ceremony at the Mother Motherland monument will be traditionally attended by representatives of the government, members of the public and veterans' organizations, foreign diplomats and residents of the city.
Commemorative events will take place at all city cemeteries where people killed during the blockade are buried. The Orthodox churches of St. Petersburg will hold memorial services for those who were killed in the tragedy.
The city will host the 'Candle of Memory' action in the evening to honor the memory of those who died. Pupils, teachers and war veterans will lay fir branches and red carnations at the blockade ice-hole, where people got water during the blockade.
A rally will be held at the Glory Alley in the Krasnoselsky district to the church of St Nino, its participants will light 900 lanterns in the evening.
30 shots of fireworks will be made near the Peter and Paul Fortress. The first victory salute was made on the evening of January 27th 1944.
The memory of the siege of Leningrad and the heroism of the people who endured it is an inexhaustible source of spiritual power for Russians, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, said.
"However, for many people, especially for those who lost their loved ones, the memory of the blockade is an emotional wound which can never be healed," TASS cited her as saying.
A senior scientist of the Center of Russian Peoples and History of Inter-ethnic Relations of the Russian History Institute of the RAS, Andrei Marchukov, said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza that the liberation of Leningrad was a long-awaited event, despite the fact that in January 1943 the blockade was broken.
"An offensive started in January 1944 allowed to completely remove any military threat to the city. This meant the liberation of the Leningrad, Pskov and Novgorod regions. Offensive plans envisaged the beginning of the liberation of the Soviet Baltic. They failed in this, but managed to throw the Germans out of Leningrad. The offensive marked the beginning of a series of such operations by Soviet troops in 1944," the expert said.
However, he drew attention to the fact that the blockade of Leningrad and the battles for the city occupy a special place in the history of the Great Patriotic War. "Enemies wanted to surround Leningrad, but they were not allowed to. In fact, the capture of Leningrad would have put our country in a very difficult position," Andrei Marchukov concluded.
The Scientific Director of the Russian Military-Historical Society, Professor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Mikhail Myagkov, in his turn, said that the final liberation of Leningrad was of great importance, because the battle for the city was the largest in the Great Patriotic War, and its blockade lasted for 872 days.
"In January 1943 the blockade was partially broken on a small strip of land along Lake Ladoga, and a temporary railway was built to supply Leningrad in only 17 days. The fact is that the heroism of Leningrad in the Second World War is of world-historical significance. If the Nazis had captured Leningrad, they could have moved their troops to other directions, for example, Moscow and Stalingrad. That's why the people of Leningrad knew that there were not just their home streets behind them, but the whole country," the expert explained.
