is leningrad and st petersburg the same place
An admirer of everything Dutch, Peter the Great originally named the city, Sankt-Peterburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург; note that the Russian name lacks the letter s between Peter and burg). On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д, IPA: (pjɪtrɐˈgrat)), meaning ``Peter's city'', in order to expunge the German-sounding words Sankt and Burg. On 26 January 1924 it was renamed to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д, IPA: (ljɪnjɪnˈgrat)), meaning ``Lenin's City''. On 6 September 1991, the original name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned. Today, in English the city is known as ``Saint Petersburg''. Local residents often refer to the city by its shortened nickname, Piter (Russian: Пи́тер, IPA: (ˈpjitjɪr)).
Saint Petersburg