Gaza is Leningrad: Putin Likens Israeli Behavior to Brutal Nazi Siege in WWII

October 13, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: Kremlin, via Wikimedia Commons)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

What Israel is doing in Gaza is unacceptable, the Russian President has said. But he went further, much further. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday likened the Israeli army’s siege of the Gaza Strip to Nazi Germany’s siege of the Russian city of Leningrad during World War II, and called for a solution to the conflict through mediation.

Speaking at a news conference in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, Putin said Israel’s tight blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people, was unacceptable.

“In my view it is unacceptable,” Putin said, the Reuters news agency reported.

“More than 2 million people live there. Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all. But all of them have to suffer, including women and children. Of course it’s hard for anyone to agree with this.”

Putin also said there had been calls even in the United States for a blockade of Gaza on a par with “the siege of Leningrad during World War II” and that such calls were unacceptable.

We must think about the Palestinian citizens suffering from Israel’s military escalation, he said, warning that Israel’s ground operation in Gaza would lead to increased civilian casualties.

Putin’s statement came after the Israeli military on Friday asked all civilians in the northern Gaza Strip – numbering more than a million – to move to the south within 24 hours, as tanks mobilized in preparation for an expected ground invasion of the territory.

Putin said the use of heavy weapons in residential areas was “fraught with serious consequences for all sides”.

At the same time, the Russian president called for collective efforts to ensure an early ceasefire and stabilization of the situation on the ground, stressing that his country is ready to coordinate with all partners with a constructive approach.

(The Palestine Chronicle)