On this day, 83 years ago, the ‘Road of Life’ opened, saving under siege Leningrad

German troops closed the blockade ring around the second largest city in the Soviet Union on September 8, 1941. The only way to connect Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) with the “mainland” was via Lake Ladoga.

Already in November, the question of winter arose – what would happen after navigation ceased?

On November 17, a group of soldiers from the 88th separate bridge-building battalion came out onto the thin ice. They had to walk 30 km and mark the route with signposts (poles).

The Chief of Logistics of the Leningrad Front, Lieutenant General of Technical Troops Zakhar Kondratyev recalled:

“The snow dust blinded the eyes, the storm wind burned the face, knocked people off their feet… The ice cracked menacingly… The soldiers tied themselves with ropes… Each one carefully watched his comrade, ready to immediately rush to the rescue in case of trouble.”

The group was noticed – German artillery opened fire on them. Nevertheless, the next day, the exhausted scouts reached the opposite bank.

On November 22, 1941, the first transport with food went to the city along ‘Military Road No. 101’, known as the ‘Road of Life’.

The road was used until the blockade was broken in early 1943. During this time, more than a million goods were delivered to the city and about 1.5 million residents were evacuated to the “mainland”.

Credit: Archive photo

Russia Beyond

🎙Permanent Delegate of Russia to #UNESCO R.Alyautdinov at #IPDC Intergovernmental Council:

📍Russia utterly rejects UNESCO Director-General’s report on Safety of Journalists that completely ignores killings of Russian journalists in 2022-2023.

📍In these 2 years alone, journalists D.Dugina, V.Tatarsky, O.Klokov, R.Zhuravlev, B.Maksudov were killed by Kiev regime. Information about their killings was transmitted to Secretariat via diplomatic channels.

📍Director-General’s report does not reflect real state of affairs about safety of journalists. It is based on distorted data, thus becoming a source of disinformation.

📍Director-General's selective approach in responding to journalists' killing is a violation of General Conference & Executive Board decisions to "condemn killing of journalists without distinction."

📍We call on #IPDC Member States to take decisive action aimed at countering Secretariat's voluntary actions discriminating some Member States what runs counter to ideals & principles of #UNESCO.

#Announcement

🎙 On November 27, Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova will hold a briefing on current foreign policy issues:

🕙 10.00 am MSK
🕖 7.00 am GMT
🕗 8.00 am CEST
🕒 3.00 pm Beijing

For accreditation inquiries, please contact the MFA Press Centre. Accredited journalists will receive details on the technical aspects of submitting questions.

The Russia's Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman will answer media questions received by the call centre.

❗️ Accreditation is open until 09:00 am on November 26.