    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [April 19, 1996]
    [Page 600]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Wreath-Laying Ceremony in St. Petersburg
    April 19, 1996

        Mayor Sobchak, Commander Seleznev, Director Shoshmin, ladies and
    gentlemen. We gather in this place as friends to remember the sacrifice
    of those who made our shared victory over fascism in World War II
    possible. In this cemetery lie the victims of the siege of Leningrad.
    For 900 days and 900 nights, the citizens here wrote with their blood
    and defiance one of the greatest chapters in all the history of human
    heroism. This place is testimony to all the Russian people gave and all
    they lost in the great struggle of World War II. It calls out to all of
    us, Russians and Americans alike, to work together in peace for the
    common good for all our people and for the world.
        Mr. Mayor, here in this brave and beautiful city of St. Petersburg,
    we Americans are thousands of miles from home. But on this day, April
    19th, 1996, our hearts must be very close to home and to the sadness and
    sacrifice of our own citizens. For it was exactly one year ago today
    that a bomb destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and
    struck at the very heart of America.
        The people who fell under the rubble of that building were ordinary
    Americans, men and women going about their jobs, working hard to provide
    for their families. They were Government workers dedicating their lives
    to helping people make the most of their own lives. They were daycare
    providers, looking out for and teaching our young children, and they
    were our children, full of promise and wonder, the pride and joy of
    their parents, the lifeblood of our future.
        Today, in the somber spirit of this magnificent memorial to Russia's
    unforgotten and unforgettable sacrifice, I ask every American to join in
    a national moment of silence for the victims of Oklahoma City.
        The loss we suffered in Oklahoma City reminds us all that when peace
    is broken, life itself becomes fragile. And so 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.
        Let us pause to give thanks for the freedoms, old and new, that now
    bless our lives. And let us pause to pray for those who lost their lives
    to freedom's enemies, and for those whose tomorrows can still be saved,
    if we are wise enough and strong enough to find peace.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. at the Piskaryevskoye Cemetery.
    In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Anatoliy Aleksandrovich Sobchak of
    St. Petersburg; Comdr. Sergei Seleznev, Leningrad Military District; and
    Alexander Shoshmin, director, Piskaryevskoye Cemetery.