Putin said that the injustice suffered by Leningrad in World War II was unprecedented (Al Jazeera)

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to eliminate Nazism, and announced his country's intention to investigate the crimes committed by the Nazis against the Soviet people during World War II.

This came in a speech delivered by Putin today, Saturday, during the inauguration of a World War II memorial on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the end of the siege imposed by the German army on the city of Leningrad, now known as “St. Petersburg,” during World War II.

Putin said that the injustice to which Leningrad was subjected was unparalleled in history, and explained that scientific and historical research made it possible to uncover the victims of the siege and Nazi crimes in the city, and that these crimes had been documented.

During the inauguration of the memorial to the victims of the siege, which lasted 872 days between 1941 and 1944 and claimed the lives of more than 800,000 people due to famine, epidemics, and bombing, Putin said, “The siege of Leningrad was unprecedentedly cruel.”

He added that the Germans' goals at the time were to steal the resources of the Soviet Union and eliminate its people, and stressed that Russia would do everything in its power to put an end to Nazism and eliminate it completely.

The Russian President criticized European countries, which he said were afflicted with “Russophobia,” as he put it. He also criticized the record of the Baltic countries in the field of human rights.

Putin often points out that he was personally affected by the Siege of Leningrad, which witnessed the worst massacres of World War II.

Vladimir Putin (71 years old) was not yet born when the city was subjected to the siege, but his older brother died during it, and his mother nearly died of starvation due to the siege, while his father, who was fighting in the ranks of the Red Army, was wounded near Leningrad.

Some buildings in St. Petersburg still bear warnings from the Soviet authorities that day about air raids on the city of 5 million people. The details of that tragedy live in their memory.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies