Putin explained that the meaning of the special operation is to end the conflict in the Donbass. Photo: Ilya Pitalev/POOL/TASS
STOLEN CARDS
On the day of the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, Vladimir Putin flew to the northern capital. First of all, he went to the Piskarevskoye cemetery, where not only the dead survivors of the blockade lie, but also his older brother. The president said that his brother died of starvation and disease at the age of 3.
– Search engines found my brother, who turned out to be buried in Piskarevka. The parents didn’t even know, they just sent them a piece of paper that he died during the blockade and that’s it. during lockdown. And the search engines found, even found the site where he was buried. So, I know from my own experience that this is a good and noble work, the head of the country did not forget to thank the volunteers.
After laying flowers on the graves of Leningrad residents, the Russian leader went to the city’s defense museum. Seeing the stall where the meal cards are counted, Putin recalled another family story of his:
My mother’s cards were stolen once. She went up to get bread, someone hit her hand, she grabbed it and ran away. Well that’s it!
IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE
After the museum, Vladimir Vladimirovich met with veterans and survivors of the siege. He urged them to tell the young about the exploits of the defenders of the city.
“We, for our part, must transmit this information, these pages of our history to future generations so that they remain forever in the memory of the people,” said the president.
At the meeting, Putin said that the death of Soviet citizens during the war should be considered genocide. Although during the Nuremberg Tribunal this was never done.
– The issue of recognition of genocide against the civilian population of the Soviet Union is extremely important, – said the head of the country, specifying that the assessments were given in court “in general and as a whole”.
– But it’s “in general”. Because during the Nuremberg trials it was impossible to even consider and present all the facts attesting to this genocide, he added.
STRUGGLED WITH ALL EUROPE
The head of state reminded the veterans that Russia used to try not to exaggerate the issue of the blockade of Leningrad, so as not to spoil relations with Europe. But in general, the soldiers of many countries, and not only Germany, are to blame for the hunger of civilians.
– Here, on the Leningrad front, representatives of many European countries participated in the blockade of Leningrad and committed crimes. We have never talked about this out of a certain tolerance and in order not to spoil relations, not to spoil some history of our relations with many countries, said the President.
And this situation was on different fronts. Putin mentioned the “Blue Division”, in which the Spanish fought near Stalingrad.
Furthermore, the president drew parallels with the War of 1812.
– Just open Leo Tolstoy and read War and Peace. When he says it came as a French army led by Napoleon, but it was all of Europe. Because by that time, Napoleon Bonaparte had brought all of continental Europe under control, the Russian leader said.
POLITICAL PRESSURE ON RUSSIA
Vladimir Putin recalled with disgust how the UN voted a resolution against the glorification of Nazism.
– 50 countries voted against. Who can be against recognizing the glorification of Nazism as criminal? Well, what is this? This is not just some kind of historical and political amnesia,” the president was outraged.
He suggested that this is how the West exerts political pressure on our country.
– To maintain this general front of pressure on our country based on the current political situation. In this sense, unfortunately, little has changed. And that means that the historical truth must be consistently defended, urged the head of state.
THE MEANING OF HIS
The president told the veterans that Russia had launched a special operation to protect the residents of Donbass. And it all started in general in 2014 after the coup in Kyiv.
– Everything we do today, including the special military operation, is an attempt to stop this war. That is the point of our operation. And to protect our people who live in these territories. These are our historical territories, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia accepted this event. We could not help but react to what began to happen there after the coup, when they began to exterminate people in fact just because they considered themselves connected to Russian culture, the Russian language and the traditions of their ancestors, the president said.
He recalled that Russia tried to negotiate, but they “led us by the nose.”
– Now it became clear that by definition it was impossible. The enemy was preparing to bring the conflict to a sharp and hot phase. We had no choice but to do what we are doing now, – summed up Putin.
