Putin will attend events in honor of the 80th anniversary of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad

In mid-January, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit his native St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and take part in events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the breaking of the blockade of the Northern capital. Regional authorities are now preparing for his visit, a source close to one of them, as well as an interlocutor close to Staraya Ploshchad, told Vedomosti. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Vedomosti’s request.

On January 18, 1943, units of the Leningrad Front merged with units of the Volkhov Front. On the same day, Shlisselburg and the entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga were completely liberated. On December 26, 2022, the administration of St. Petersburg published on its website a list of festive events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad.

On January 18, the lighting of torches on the Rostral Columns, the ceremony of laying flowers at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, a cannon shot from the Naryshkin Bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, fireworks at the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress, etc. are planned. district of the Leningrad region with the participation of “active public organizations of veterans and blockade survivors”, as well as in the State Memorial Museum of Defense and Blockade, where a youth patriotic action with elements of historical reconstruction will take place, etc.

State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov (United Russia) told Vedomosti that participation in such events is “something natural” for those born in the city. “Of course, when we are now conducting a complex and important special operation, it is right to remember who gave us an example, who defended our country 80 years ago,” he said. Milonov added that it is “certainly correct” if Putin makes a decision, but also expressed confidence that for the president it is “not only a matter of some public action, but also of personal convictions”: “He is like a Leningrader, like all of us , sacredly honors these dates, and for us the day of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad is the day when our city received a second birth.

At the moment, any public appearance of the president is inevitably connected with the basic agenda of a military special operation, says political consultant Valentin Bianchi. “The rhetoric associated with the Great Patriotic War is constantly used by different figures in relation to current events. Therefore, even if no words are spoken, then in the further state interpretation, the link will be completely obvious,” Bianchi believes.

The head of state visits St. Petersburg quite often. For example, on December 26, 2022, he participated in an informal meeting of the leaders of the CIS member countries, and on December 27, he met with the rector of St. Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko.