Putin’s meeting with veterans on the day of the 80th anniversary of the breaking of the siege of Leningrad. The main thing

On the day of the 80th anniversary of the breaking of the siege of Leningrad, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in his native St. Petersburg, where he met with veterans of the Great Patriotic War, residents of besieged Leningrad and representatives of public patriotic associations at the State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad. The head of state noted the significance of the historic event, and again raised issues related to the special operation in Ukraine.

Putin began his speech by congratulating veterans on the 80th anniversary of breaking the siege of Leningrad. The Russian leader noted that this historic event is significant not only for the residents of the city, but for the whole of Russia.

“Now we just talked with the city leadership about what and how happened in these most difficult months of the defense of Leningrad, how heroic its defenders were and what the residents of besieged Leningrad did to defeat the enemy – these are all things that will forever remain in the memory of the people of our country “, he said.

Putin emphasized that historical knowledge should be passed on to future generations so that this event “remains forever in the people’s memory.”

After that, the president also watched the trailer for the film “Nuremberg” directed by Nikolai Lebedev (“Legend No. 17”, “Crew”). He stated the importance of recognizing the genocide against the civilian population of the USSR. As Putin explained, during the Nuremberg trials it was impossible even to consider and present all the facts testifying to this genocide.

The President also noted that Russia has never pointed out to its European partners that the blockade of the city was held by the military from many European countries.

“Because of a certain tolerance and in order not to spoil relations, not to spoil some background of our relations with many countries, we have never talked about this before,” he added.

At the same time, the West is trying to put pressure on Russia by voting against condemning the glorification of Nazism, Putin said. He recalled that in December 2022, this resolution of Russia at the UN was not supported by 50 countries. The head of state considered this behavior a manifestation of “historical and political amnesia” and the desire to “keep the front of pressure” on Russia. In this regard, the President called for the protection of historical truth.

Putin once again recalled the goals of the special operation. According to him, its holding is necessary in order to protect the inhabitants of Donbass. He recalled that hostilities have been going on in these territories since 2014.

“Everything we are doing today, including the NWO, is an attempt to end this war. This is the meaning of our operation,” Putin explained.

The head of state said that the territories of the DPR and LPR historically belong to Russia. According to him, the Russian Federation “reconciled” with the fact that these territories were ceded to Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR, but “could not help but react” to the events that took place in the Donbass after the coup d’état in Ukraine.

“We could not help but react to what began to happen there after the coup d’état, when they began to exterminate people who live in these territories only because they consider themselves connected with Russian culture, with the Russian language,” Putin said.

Russia did everything possible to resolve the conflict peacefully, but it was “led by the nose and deceived,” the president added. According to him, “the enemy was preparing to transfer this entire conflict into an acute and hot phase,” so Russia had no other choice but to conduct a special operation in Ukraine.

A separate topic at a meeting with veterans, Putin outlined the crimes of Kyiv against the inhabitants of Ukraine and the Russian Orthodox Church. The head of state promised that the actions of the Ukrainian authorities “will not be in vain.”

“Fixing what they are doing, especially with the civilian population, is a must. And we will do it,” the President stressed.

He added that the Investigative Committee not only records the crimes of Kyiv, but also gives them a legal assessment. The Russian authorities will continue to work in this direction, Putin concluded.

They also discussed the importance of preserving historical memory. According to Putin, a person quickly forgets “everything bad” and believes that historical events in the past have nothing to do with him. He called this phenomenon a defense mechanism. In this regard, the President stressed, the state will make all necessary efforts to this end.

“When you talk about the need to preserve historical memory, I already said: I fully support this, we will do it at the state level, we will do it persistently, including so that nothing happens again,” he said.

Putin said that Russia will always remember real heroes and “raise them to the podium.” He also supported the idea of ​​including in the school curriculum the works of Soviet authors, including Maxim Fadeev, Konstantin Simonov, Nikolai Ostrovsky and others.