Category: Russian to English

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

On the morning of September 8, in the Polytechnic buildings, the sentries of the "Memory Watch" — students of the SPbPU Military Training Center — stood in honor guard at the steles with lit candles and 125-gram pieces of bread. This is how the university has been beginning mourning and solemn events dedicated to the day the Leningrad siege began for many years. This year, the tragic date was celebrated for the 84th time.

At 12 o'clock, Polytechnic University teachers laid flowers at the memorial at the Bogoslovskoye Cemetery. And at 13 o'clock, SPbPU staff and students came to a rally at the Monument to the Fallen Polytechnicians.

Every year, in addition to the university staff and residents of besieged Leningrad, new participants appear here – first-year students who have just entered the university. Those who came to St. Petersburg from other regions know little about the blockade. Therefore, for them, this rally is one of the first lessons in the history of the city.

Associate Professor of the Higher School of Social Sciences Ivan Kolomeitsev recalled that the siege of Leningrad by Nazi troops and their accomplices lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. According to official data, the number of civilian casualties reached almost 1 million 100 thousand people. During the siege, workshops for the production of equipment necessary for the front were organized at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Polytechnic engineers ensured the operation of the ice route on Lake Ladoga, the famous Road of Life. Military equipment developed by LPI graduates was produced at defense plants in our country.

Dear veterans, colleagues, the Leningrad blockade is one of the most dramatic pages of the Great Patriotic War. The further it goes into the past, the more vivid many of the events of those years become. It seems to me that what happened then in Leningrad has no analogues in history. As it is written on the granite slab of the monument where we have gathered, the polytechnicians did everything with their labor and military feat to withstand and win. In this mournful moment, let us remember those who gave their lives during the blockade, – Advisor to the rector's office, Professor Vladimir Glukhov addressed the participants of the rally.

The memory of the victims was honored with a minute of silence.

Veterans of the Polytechnic University, children of war and residents of besieged Leningrad Zinaida Matveyevna Filina and Irina Vasilyevna Novozhilova also spoke at the rally. They thanked the younger generation for their memory and attention to the veterans.

On behalf of the youth, 11th grade students of the Natural Science Lyceum Rodion Kurskiyev and Anatoly Zozulya spoke; they read poems by Vera Inber and Alexander Prokofiev.

The rally ended with the laying of flowers at the Monument to the Fallen Polytechnicians. After that, the cadets of the Military Training Center and the Polytechnic activists went to the Piskarevskoye Cemetery to lay a wreath and flowers at the memorial and burial site of the Polytechnicians.

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Official website of the State –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

On September 5, 2025, the State University of Management hosted the ceremonial launch of the educational program “Banking Business Management” – a joint project of Expobank JSC and the State University of Management, as well as the opening of the Expobank laboratory.

Let us recall that the cooperation agreement between GUU and Expobank was signed in February of this year.

The opening ceremony of the laboratory and the launch of the program began with a ceremonial ribbon cutting, after which the students of the State University of Management were presented not only with a bright classroom with small comfortable tables equipped with 26 new laptops, but also with the prospect of becoming leaders in the financial industry.

Expobank has 37 branches in 19 regions of Russia and ranks 25th in terms of capital in the market. It has an ecosystem that includes medicine, hotel and automobile businesses. This is a relatively small boutique bank that specializes in complex non-standard transactions with high uncertainty, thereby bypassing competitors who prefer standard work schemes. Students of the First Management will have to learn such a creative approach to banking. As an additional motivation, Expobank will pay a personal scholarship to each student who enters the network program before the first certification. In the future, only the most capable students who complete the first session without debts and Cs will retain the additional reward.

Greeting the assembled students of the State University of Management, Vice-Rector Dmitry Bryukhanov recalled yesterday's meeting with first-year students, which caused a great stir, and expressed confidence that the new laboratory will help students in implementing their projects.

"Today, thanks to the active position of our partner, we are opening a beautiful and functional classroom. We hope that this base will help you quickly get involved in the learning process and come to classes with joy, especially since Expobank is ready to help in implementing the educational program of banking business management. The program will help you immerse yourself in the complex world of financial flows, which today is closely connected with the IT sphere, so the classroom is equipped with the latest technology. Thanks to Expobank, we are glad that the first week of the academic year was marked by such a wonderful event," said Dmitry Bryukhanov.

Expobank's Director of Human Resources, Galina Weisband, told the students that this was the bank's first experience of this kind, so it would learn to build the educational process together with them.

"We believe that the main client of the university is not students or their parents, but employers who know better than others what kind of specialists they need. Our educational program, on the one hand, has academic importance, and on the other, it develops you in the banking profession. Classes will be held not only in this auditorium, where our specialists will come, but also in our bank. We are very much looking forward to seeing you in practice, and later as HR specialists, but in no way do we limit your ambitions and aspirations if you choose to work elsewhere. Welcome to our department!" Galina Weisband greeted the students.

Expobank's Director of Human Resources Maxim Dzyuba and Deputy Chairman of the Board Galina Lobova introduced the students to the company's activities.

"We believe that the university auditorium is the place with the greatest potential. That is why we are here and honestly say that we want to hunt you down, but we do not chain you to the radiator – you are free to choose your career path. We have 80 scholarship programs, internships with good salaries for people even with zero experience in the banking sector, young but experienced mentors. We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with you," Maxim Dzyuba addressed the future bankers.

At the end of the ceremony, the students asked questions that interested them, which mainly concerned the non-standard nature of their work, as stated by the guests, and also wrote messages to their future selves on the board.

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 09/08/2025

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Official website of the State –

An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.

September 8 is a special date in the history of our country and its northern capital, St. Petersburg. Today we remember the victims of the Leningrad siege during the Great Patriotic War.

The siege lasted an incredibly long 872 days, from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. During this time, from 600,000 to 1.5 million city residents died from hunger, cold, bombing and shelling, according to various sources, with 97% dying from exhaustion and only 3% as a result of combat. Over 150,000 heavy artillery shells and over 107,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs fell on the city during the siege. At its beginning, the average daily shelling lasted 9 hours.

During the hardest period, in December 1941, the daily bread ration for a worker was 250 grams, everyone else, including the elderly and children, received 125 grams. Despite these hellish conditions, the residents of Leningrad were ready to give even their own blood for the front. Every day, 300 to 700 people donated it for the wounded soldiers. By the beginning of 1944, a total of 144 thousand liters of blood from exhausted residents had been collected.

The terrifying statistics can be cited for a very long time. Or you can read these sparse but very vivid recollections of a witness to this war crime of Nazi Germany, candidate of economic sciences, senior research fellow of the research department of the Moscow Engineering and Economics Institute (now the State University of Management), chairman of the Council of Veterans of our university from 1997 to 2003 Georgy Lagunov.

In 1941, our hero lived in the very center of Leningrad, in a house on the corner of Gogol and Dzerzhinsky streets, where the famous composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky died.

"Summer 1941. Warm. No rain. You can go to Krestovsky Island to swim in the Neva. Shop windows are filled with sandbags. Windows of houses are covered with crosswise strips of paper. Slots have been dug in gardens and parks to provide cover from bombs. Policemen with guns. Curfew. The radio is on non-stop. The evacuation of the Hermitage has begun. The shops still have everything they need."

"September 6 – the first raid by fascist planes. A day later – a massive daytime raid. From the roof of the house you can see smoke spreading over the burning Badayev warehouses, where most of the city's food supplies were stored. During one of the night raids, which happened to coincide with my duty on the roof, two lighters fell on our house. One bomb – into a barrel of water, the other – with special tongs into the sand. The remainder of the second lighter – a stump of a cylinder with a tail unit – stood on my desk for a long time."

"Heavy snowfalls began at the beginning of November. Railroad communication with the country was interrupted. Trams and trolleybuses stopped. The daily bread ration was rapidly decreasing. Almost no other food products were issued."

"In mid-December, the lights in the houses go out. People started making smokehouses. There is no water. It is cold. The bread ration is 125 grams. People queue for it from 6 am. People fall down and die of hunger right on the streets."

"On December 27, my father died. From "general dystrophy," as stated on the death certificate, or more simply, from hunger. He was only in his 45th year."

"My mother went to work as a nurse at the hospital on our street. How far it seemed! I dragged myself there to the canteen for civilians for a plate of shchi made from khryapa or a flatbread made from duranda."

(Khryapa is the pickled upper green leaves of white cabbage. Duranda is the remains of oilseeds after squeezing oil out of them, cake.)

"In February 1942, food standards were set that would probably be minimally sufficient for healthy people. However, for dystrophic people, this was not enough. People continued to die. But even in such difficult times, the post office worked!"

"In the spring, trams started running again. The destroyed houses, at least in the city center, were camouflaged with plywood painted to look like walls and windows. The streets were deserted, there were few people. In the gardens, they began to dig up the vegetable gardens."

"In June 1942, I started working, and that's when my work experience began. At first, I worked as an apprentice electrician in a hospital, and when the restoration of electricity supply to residential buildings began in 1943, I moved to work as a foreman of electricians in the District Housing Administration, closer to home."

"On November 1, 1943, I was drafted into the Red Army by the Kuibyshev RVC of Leningrad. Together with me, there were only about 40 teenage boys born in 1926 in the area, who had survived the most brutal months of the blockade in the city. This was the last draft of soldiers who took part in the battles of the Great Patriotic War."

Georgy Lagunov did not manage to be in the battles to lift the siege of Leningrad. On January 27, 1944, the day it was lifted, the young machine gunner turned 18. He fought in the autumn offensive operations of the 3rd Baltic Front in Estonia and in the winter-spring East Prussian offensive operation in Poland. He was seriously wounded in the leg while crossing the border with Germany, and eight months later he was discharged from the army for health reasons.

Georgy Lagunov was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, the Order of Glory, 3rd degree, the medals For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, For the Defense of Leningrad, and the Resident of Blockaded Leningrad badge. A worthy warrior

In 2022, the St. Petersburg City Court recognized the siege of Leningrad as an act of genocide. We will forever remember the incredible resilience and unbending courage of the survivors of besieged Leningrad and the hundreds of thousands of innocent victims of this war crime of the Nazi regime.

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 09/08/2025

Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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