Clinton Honors Russian World War II Dead

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN, April 19) -- During an emotional visit to a St. Petersburg cemetery this morning, President Bill Clinton paid tribute to the Russian victims of a Nazi siege and to the Americans who died in the Oklahoma City bombing a year ago.

During remarks made in a light drizzle at the Piskaryevskoye Memorial Cemetery, Clinton called on everyone "to work together in peace."

"Today, as we remember the staggering losses of the Russian people in World War II and the Americans who died in Oklahoma City, we pray, too, for an end to violence and the restoration of peace in the Middle East, and everywhere where neighbors still fight over their ethnic and religious differences," he said.

Clinton laid a wreath at the cemetery to honor the more than 500,000 Russians -- soldiers and civilians -- who died during a 900-day siege of the city (then called Leningrad) during World War II. The dead are buried at Piskaryevskoye in mass graves marked only with the year in which they died.

After his visit to the cemetery, Clinton toured the Hermitage Museum, located in Catherine the Great's Winter Palace, and the Russian Museum. The president also made a stop at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, built in 1801-11 and used as the Museum of Atheism and Religion during the period of Communist rule. The sprawling cathedral has now been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The president flew to Moscow later in the day, where he will attend a dinner with other world leaders at the Kremlin. Clinton arrived in Russia Thursday from Japan, and will attend a two-day, eight-nation nuclear summit in Moscow beginning on Saturday. In addition to Russia and the U.S., other nations represented at the summit are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The summit, held 10 years after the world's worst nuclear accident in Chernobyl, will cover concerns about civil nuclear safety, nuclear security and the future of the nuclear plant at Chernobyl.

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