President of Russia: Vladimir Putin chaired, via videoconference, the meeting of the Russian Pobeda (Victory) Organizing Committee

On September 9, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired, via videoconference, the meeting of the Russian Pobeda (Victory) Organizing Committee.

The meeting participants considered applications for the award of the honorary title of the Russian Federation The City of Labour Valor. They also summed up the results of the International Research and Practice Forum The Khabarovsk War Time Trials: Historic Significance and Contemporary Challenges.

In his opening speech, the President said: "This year is marked by a number of memorable dates that are of importance to Russia and our entire society. In particular, there is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and the tragic events of its first and most difficult stage.

Another date is the beginning of the Siege of Leningrad on September 8, 1941, when the enemy closed the circle around the city, but it never succeeded in overpowering the courage of its defenders, the spirit of the Leningraders.

The war-related signature dates are also part of our personal, family history, which largely determines the Russian people’s reverential, sacred attitude to the heroes and the chronicle of the Great Patriotic War as well as our adamant determination to defend the honour and memory of those who fought against Nazism.

The important thing is that we pass on the truth about their feat of valour and our Great Victory, from generation to generation. We also remember the lessons of the Second World War and will never allow the vindication and whitewashing of the criminals, and their monstrous plans that threatened the whole of mankind.

A case in point is the recent International Research and Practice Forum dedicated to the 1949 Khabarovsk War Crime Trials. It was the Soviet investigators who collected irrefutable evidence that exposed the Japanese militarists as guilty of crimes against humanity, of preparing a bacteriological war. These heinous plans were never destined to come to fruition: In the summer of 1945, when Europe was returning to peaceful life, the Soviet forces routed the Kwantung Army and put an end to World War II".

Vladimir Putin also noted: "It is hard to comprehend the importance of the exploits of the home front up to this day. In the flames of the outbreak of war, people evacuated vital factories and plants for thousands of kilometres inside the country and then redeployed and reoriented them in a short span of time. They mastered the production of the latest weapons, ammunition and equipment and put them on the assembly line, increasing many times over the mining of minerals and the supplies of strategic resources and raw materials.

The scale of production at that time is stunning even now, in peacetime. It is impossible to imagine what human efforts it took to do all this, particularly during those most difficult war years.

We have instituted an honorary title in Russia, The City of Labour Valour, as a sign of the deepest respect and admiration for those who worked in plants and factories, hospitals and research laboratories without rest and sleep, disregarding all privations and sometimes sacrificing their lives. We have done this to reaffirm our respect for these people".

By the decision of the Organizing Committee, the following cities will receive the honorary title The City of Labour Valor:

- Okha, the north of Sakhalin;

- Stupino, Moscow Region;

- Kostroma;

- Lysva, Perm Territory;

- Syzran;

- Monchegorsk;

- Vorkuta;

- Aldan, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);

- Bologoe, Tver Region;

- Chita;

- Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod Region;

- Kemerovo.

At the end of his speech, the President of Russia noted: "Virtually every family and community in this country made their contribution to the Great Victory. We will, therefore, of course, expand the list of Cities of Labour Valour".