The reception to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from Nazi siege was held in the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation in Turku on January 27th, 2014. The reception was attended by 19 veterans - defenders and residents of besieged Leningrad as well as representatives of Turku and the regional branch of the Finland-Russia Society.
The reception to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from Nazi siege was held in the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation in Turku on January 27th, 2014. The reception was attended by 19 veterans - defenders and residents of besieged Leningrad as well as representatives of Turku and the regional branch of the Finland-Russia Society. The veterans were presented with greetings and souvenirs from St. Petersburg.
The visitors were invited to the photo exhibition dedicated to the remarkable date. It showed the most severe and terrible years in the history of the City on the River Neva, the courage and unique spirit of Leningraders. The exhibition was presented to the Consulate-General by the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg.
The exhibition consists of historical photos made during the 900-day Siege of Leningrad, as well as information and reference part (32 panels with black-and white and color images in aluminium frames).
Consul-General of the Russian Federation Alexander Sverchkov gave a welcome speech and read out an official greeting of the Governor of St.Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko. A.Sverchkov also noted that “the defense of Leningrad is an important milestone in the history of the Great Patriotic War... and there were no other city in the world cataclysm, the residents of which withstood the terrible hunger and cold for almost 900 days”.
Survivors of the Siege were presented with commemorative gifts - mug and saucer sets of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, provided by the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, as well as bound copies of “the memories of survivors” written down by I.Khvalovskaya, member of the Association of Russian Writers of Finland and provided by the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation.
Maati Lohikoski, Head of International Relations Department of Turku gave a welcome speech and S.Tirri, Secretary of the regional division of Finland-Russia Society stressed the need of developing sister-city relations for sustainable dialogue between the countries and prevention of “such cruel events in the history of mankind”.
The literary and musical part of the evening was prepared by the choir of compatriots led by the resident of Besieged Leningrad I.Khvalovskaya. The rich and varied program included performance of songs and excerpts from literary works created in the war years as well as own compositions of I.Khvalovskaya. The tea party was organized for the guests by the Consulate-General. The events were held in the framework of implementation of the state policy of the Russian Federation by St.Petersburg in relation to compatriots abroad (The Compatriots Program).