Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (Centre) has a close look at an artwork displayed at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

ST PETERSBURG Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, his wife and his entourage yesterday visited Saint Petersburg as part of his ongoing official visit to Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev.
The Vietnamese Government leader met with acting Governor of Saint Petersburg Alexander Beglov, during which he expressed his joy to witness with his own eyes the socio-economic development of the city.
He said relations between “the northern capital city” of Russia with localities in Việt Nam had been expanding with regular exchanges of all-level delegations.
PM Phúc said the Vietnamese Government always supported co-operation across fields between localities in the two countries.
He praised the co-ordination in organising meaningful activities in the framework of the Việt Nam Year in Russia and the Russia Year in Việt Nam, contributing to tightening the friendship and co-operation between the two nations.
The Vietnamese leader thanked the Saint Petersburg authorities for their support for Vietnamese communities living and working in the city.
For his part, Beglov said municipal authorities cherished the traditional relationship between the two nations.
They would host many activities, including the Việt Nam-Russia Youth Forum and the Day of HCM City in Saint Petersburg, he said.
 
Earlier, PM Phúc and the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath at the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery which is dedicated to victims of the Siege of Leningrad and soldiers of the Leningrad Front. 
PM Phúc and his entourage also visited Russia’s historic cruiser the Aurora, touted as a revolutionary icon since it fired a shot to beckon the last attack at the Winter Palace in Petrograd on November 11, 1917.
 
The leader and his entourage also went on a tour of the Winter Palace, part of the Hermitage Museum, which houses some three million artworks.
The same day, PM Phúc left Saint Petersburg for Moscow, continuing his activities on his official visit to Russia. VNS