In St. Petersburg, the Piskarevskoye cemetery, where the victims of the siege of Leningrad were buried en masse, was blocked due to the visit of President Vladimir Putin. This was reported by Paper.
In the memorial complex, the publication was informed that the entrance was closed until 15:00 today.
Vedomosti journalist Svyatoslav Afonkin said on his telegram channel, that because of the arrival of the president to lay flowers at the cemetery, they did not let the blockade. Afonkin published a conversation between his colleague Daniil Bolshakov and an elderly St. Petersburg woman who calls herself a siege and complains that she came to the memorial in a snowstorm on foot to lay flowers.
A photograph by TASS correspondent Alexander Demyanchuk shows the president walking through the cemetery , behind it is a fence, behind which stand those who came to lay flowers.
Fontanka also spoke with St. Petersburg residents, among whom are relatives of the siege survivors. In the video, they complain that they have not been able to get to the memorial for several hours by the time of shooting. «data-type=»photo» data-slate-custom=»{«imgSrc»:»https://s3.zona.media/entry/22449f5dc573f23a653de79934df3e3a»,»alt»:»»}» alt =»1″ />
Photo: Alexander Demyanchuk/TASS
The publication notes that some of those who were waiting «an hour after the end of the ceremony» were let in closer, other Petersburgers left, handing flowers to the police with a request to lay them.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said residents were only asked to «wait a little» while the president laid flowers.
It's important to understand who and when they weren't allowed in. The fact is that there were no overlaps there, none. Residents walked freely in the morning. They only slightly asked to wait when Putin laid flowers, but even then it was very fast. It took no more than 10 minutes. And then everyone continued quietly. Therefore, this is not true,” he said.