CSTO PA Headquarters in St Petersburg joins the Leningrad Moment of Silence campaign

On January 18, the Northern Capital marks one of the most important dates in its history and in the history of the Great Patriotic War. On this day 80 years ago, the offensive codenamed Iskra broke the ring of the fascist siege of Leningrad.

A Leningrad Moment of Silence has been declared at the CSTO PA headquarters in St Petersburg. The Assembly’s entire personnel will join the campaign, which is supported by all institutions in the region, at 1 PM sharp.

A total of 167 commemoratory events will take place in St Petersburg from 18 to 29 January 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has already arrived in the Northern Capital. He laid flowers at the Rubezhny Kamen monument (“Landmark Stone”) in Neva Bridgehead in the Kirovsky district of the Leningrad oblast. As part of the major programme of memorial events, the Russian President will also visit a defence industry enterprise where he will talk to workers.

To mark the anniversary, the Russian Defence Ministry has declassified the order of the supreme high command general headquarters of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts of December 8, 1942: "To crush the enemy group near Lipka, Gaitolovo, Moskovskaya Dubrovka and Shlisselburg by joint efforts of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts so as to break up the siege of Leningrad and complete the operation by the end of January 1943,” the document says.

As you may recall, the siege of Leningrad began on September 8, 1941 and lasted 872 days. By January 27, 1944 the Red Army completely liberated Leningrad during the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic operation.