St. Petersburg has 37,000 blockade survivors and 475 Leningrad defenders

First Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for Social Policy Galina Kolosova announced the current number of veterans at a press conference on January 21.

According to Smolny, 44,900 people related to Great Patriotic War veterans live in the city.

Galina Kolosova specified the distribution by categories: «Of this number, the largest group is, of course, the residents of besieged Leningrad, which is more than 37,000 people, and 475 people are those who have the medal »For the Defense of Leningrad.«»

For comparison, in January 2025, Governor Alexander Beglov reported 2,000 frontline veterans and fewer than 48,000 blockade survivors.

In 2017, according to TASS, 97,000 blockade survivors lived in the city, of whom fewer than 8,000 were awarded the medal «For the Defense of Leningrad.»

In 2025, to support veterans, an annual payment was introduced into the city«s social code in connection with military history days.

By January 27, two categories of citizens should receive the due amounts: 10,000 rubles (approximately $105) and 5,000 rubles (approximately $53) respectively.

The number of recipients of this payment exceeds the number of veterans.

As Kolosova noted, «the city does not forget all categories of residents who survived the Great Patriotic War even in childhood.»

The payment will be received by 190,000 Petersburgers, for which over 1.2 billion rubles (approximately $12.6 million at current rates) have been allocated from the budget.

In the autumn of 2025, changes were also made to legislation in St. Petersburg.

Temporary restrictions were lifted that prevented awarding the badge «Resident of Besieged Leningrad» to people who lived in the besieged city for less than four months.

To date, 1,619 people have already received this badge, who are classified as a federal category of beneficiaries with the right to monthly payments.