The Russian city of St. Petersburg on January 27 marked the 80th anniversary of the end of a devastating World War II siege by Nazi forces with a series of memorial events attended by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin leader laid flowers at a monument to fallen Soviet defenders of the city, then called Leningrad, on the banks of the Neva River, and then at Piskarevskoye Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of siege victims are buried. The Red Army broke the nearly 2 1/2-year blockade on January 19, 1943, after fierce fighting. Historians say more than 1 million residents perished from hunger or air and artillery bombardments during the siege.
Russia Marks 80 Years Since Nazi Siege Of Leningrad Broken
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka attend a ceremony to unveil the memorial complex to Soviet civilians killed during World War II, as part of commemorative events marking 80 years since Leningrad siege was lifted, in the village of Zaitsevo in the Leningrad region on January 27.