Imagine a piece of paper on a table in front of you, with the long way running left and right. Now cut out a notch from the upper left corner of that sheet of paper. Imagine that this paper is a map of Russia, and that the nations of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Germany are all located just outside the part of the paper that you cut into. Next imagine that your notch is called the Baltic Sea, and that a river empties into that sea from the interior of Russia. Saint Petersburg, also known as Leningrad, is located where the Neva River pours into a sea inlet which in turn opens into the Baltic Sea. The city was built during the 18th century under the direction of Emperor Peter the Great. Its importance is that it is one of the relatively few locations from which Russian ships can enjoy normal access to the oceans. I say "normal," because Russia has a very long NORTHERN coastline, but this of course is coated with heavy ice for much of the year.