Blinken touched on a “sensitive” topic during his speech, the family history of Russian President Vladimir Putin, comparing the Kremlin’s siege of Ukrainian cities to Nazi Germany’s siege of Russian cities during World War II, a siege that killed Putin’s one-year-old brother, Victor.
Blinken said Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s cities mirrored Nazi Germany’s blockade of Leningrad, in which Nazi forces “systematically starved and deliberately destroyed the city”, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
“The blockade affected millions of Russian families then, including that of President Putin, whose one-year-old brother was one of the many victims. Now Russia is starving cities like Mariupol. It’s a shame,” Blinken said, according to Blinken. for ABC station.
Blinken added: “The world is telling Russia to stop these attacks immediately. Let the food and medicine in. Let the people out safely, and end this war of choice against Ukraine.”
Putin’s older brother, Viktor, died of a diphtheria infection during the Siege of Leningrad before Putin was born.
Putin says his “special military operation” in Ukraine is about “de-Nazification” of Ukraine’s government.