Putin leaves Stalingrad Airport – Diepresse.com
The Russian President again gives Wolgograd Airport the former name of the city, allegedly at the request of World War II veterans. « For me, their word is law, » he says.
The Russian President Vladimir Putin has again awarded Wolgograd Airport as an additional name of the city: Stalingrad. In order for the victory of the Soviet people to be remembered in the Second World War, the decree that Putin signed after a visit to Volgograd said.
Russia is preparing for large celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in 1945. Together with the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukaschenko, Putin in Volgograd reminded the Battle of Stalingrad against the German Wehrmacht and allied units in the winter of 1942/43.
Alleged request from war veterans
The renaming of the airport was a request from World War II veterans as well as from participants in the war against Ukraine, said governor Andrej Botscharov. « Their word is law for me. We do it that way, » said Putin from the state Russian news agency TASS.
The big city on the Volga was renamed Wolgograd in 1961 to repay the name of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin (1878-1953). Under Putin’s authoritarian rule, however, Stalin has increasingly rehabilitated. He is also given monuments again. (APA/dpa)
