Saint Petersburg was under military blockade by Nazi forces between 1941 and 1944 (Representational)
A Russian family was stunned Monday to discover a mortar shell under the floorboards during renovation work at their flat in Saint Petersburg, a local official said.
The building in the centre of Russia's second-largest city was evacuated for a few hours while bomb disposal experts removed the munition, Alexandra Sokolova told AFP.
The city was under military blockade by Nazi forces between 1941 and 1944.
At least 800,000 people died in the Siege of Leningrad -- the city's name at the time -- from hunger, disease or shelling, with many historians saying the figure is much higher.
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