On the 80th anniversary marking the end of the siege of Leningrad, President Vladimir of Russia has vowed to do everything possible to suppress and finally eradicate Nazism.
President Vladimir Putin made the remarks on Saturday accusing Ukraine of “glorifing” Adolf Hitler’s SS killing squads and vowed to “eradicate Nazism.”
Putin said “the regime in Kyiv glorifies Hitler’s accomplices, the SS.”
And Russia would “do everything possible to suppress and finally eradicate Nazism,” he said.
The all-strong Russian leader charged that Ukraine is a fascist state that needs “de-Nazifying.”
“The followers of Nazi executioners, whatever they call themselves today, are doomed,” he said near Saint Petersburg, his home town and the modern-day name of Leningrad.
He was speaking at the opening of a new memorial complex to victims of the siege of Leningrad — an event which forms a major part of Putin’s personal identity and one which has totemic importance for millions of Russians.
More than 800,000 people died from starvation, disease and bombardment during the 872-day encirclement by German forces in the Second World War.
Putin had earlier on Saturday visited a cemetery where more than 400,000 victims were buried in mass graves.
The Soviet Red Army broke the siege on 27 January 1944.
Although he was born after the war, Putin’s elder brother died of starvation during the siege.
He has also recalled how his mother once fainted and was laid out in the street next to a bunch of corpses, presumed dead from hunger.
The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people in what it calls the “Great Patriotic War” — more than any other country.