JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli leaders inaugurated on Thursday a monument honoring the veterans and victims of the Nazi siege of Leningrad.
The dedication ceremony, in the Sacher Park in Jerusalem, took place ahead of Israel's largest-ever gathering in commemoration of the Nazi Holocaust.
The ceremony was attended by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, St. Petersburg's governor Alexander Beglov, World War II Red Army veterans, and siege survivors.
The monument is the first site outside Russia to commemorate nearly two and a half years of Nazi siege of Leningrad, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Leningrad, known today as St. Petersburg, is Putin's hometown.
In a speech during the event, Putin thanked Israel for establishing the monument. He told the ceremony that his mother was under the siege and his brother died during the siege in 1942.
He said that the monument "conveys a message of heroism, memory, and loss." He added that Israel and Russia "do not agree that the world will forget the lessons" of World War II and the Holocaust, and both countries "combat anti-Semitism and Russophobia."
The Russian leader arrived for a one-day visit in Israel earlier on Thursday to take part in the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
The main ceremony will take place later on Thursday at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem, attended by more than 40 international leaders.
