Located about 600 km North of Moscow, St. Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, with a population of over 5 million. It is a major European cultural center and the most important Russian Port on the Baltic Sea.

St Petersburg is a major trade gateway, financial and industrial center of Russia specializing in oil & gas trades, ship building, aerospace industry, radio & electronics, software and computers, machine building, heavy pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, textile and many other industries. The city is also a major transport hub. It is the final destination of the Trans Siberian Railroad, and a web of intercity and suburban railways. It has 3 large cargo seaports and a complex system of river ports on both banks of the Neva River which are interconnected to the Seaport.

It is among the most beautiful cities in the world, blessed with many majestic palaces, public monuments, opera and ballet theatres and a variety of other architectural marvels. What is now the Hermitage Museum was once the most illustrious of St Petersburg’s Palaces, a vast stately building of 600 rooms and dazzlingly luxurious interiors. One of the most familiar symbols of St. Petersburg is the equestrian statue of Peter The Great, installed in 1782 on the senate square. With the granite embankments along the River Neva which flows through the city, the many canals and the 300 bridges across the river, St. Petersburg is also known as the ‘Venice of the North’.