OREANDA-NEWS Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg to honor the memory of residents and defenders of Leningrad on the day of lifting the blockade of the city on January 27, according to the Kremlin's official website. The President also laid flowers at the grave of his brother, who died as a child during the blockade.

«On the day of the 78th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Fascist blockade, Vladimir Putin visited the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, where he will honor the memory of the fallen soldiers-liberators and residents of the city», the press service of the President reports.

At the same time, the blockaders themselves were not allowed into the cemetery — they were left standing behind the fence, the Russian media Novaya Gazeta reports, citing a photo of Alexander Demyanchuk from the Russian news Agency TASS.

Earlier today, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that more people died during the siege of Leningrad than in the United States and Great Britain during the entire period of World War II. Volodin and representatives of the Duma factions also laid flowers at the monument to the heroes of resistance in concentration camps and ghettos on the territory of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow on January 27. Parliamentarians took part in the candle lighting ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.