Should Russia have surrendered Leningrad?

Is it ok to question how events unfolded during World War Two? That's a hot topic of discussion on social media in Russia right now.

This week is the 70th anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad during WW2, and on Sunday the independent Russian TV station Dozhd conducted what turned out to be a very controversial poll. They asked whether Leningrad - now St Petersburg - should have been handed over to the Nazis in order to save lives. Hundreds of thousands of Russians died in Leningrad during the blockade - which lasted more than two years - but was a key turning point in the war.

Asking this simple question led to a social media storm against Dozhd TV. Thousands were outraged - arguing that even posing this question was an insult to the dead. The Soviet Union's victory in World War Two remains a source of great national pride and by Monday, a hashtag which translates as "brown rain" (#коричневыйдождь) was trending - the "brown" referring to the colour of Nazi uniforms, and the "rain" to the name of the station (which translates as Rain TV)....