Useful Contacts in St Petersburg

(NB: Information last updated pre-Covid (2019) - and of course a lot has changed since then)

Consular Assistance

The British & American Consulates in St Petersburg were both closed in 2018. The emergency contact number for UK nationals (c/o the British Embassy in Moscow) is +7 495 956 7200 and for US nationals (c/o the US Embassy in Moscow) is +7 495 728 5577 (or 728 5000 if after hours). 

Australia has a local Honorary Consul, Sebastian FitzLyon, Tel: +7 964 333 7572. Other Consulates in St Petersburg are listed here. 

General information & guidance on living in Russia can also be found on the GOV.UK site

Medical Assistance 

This archived US Consulate file from November 2015 lists the main international medical centres in St Petersburg where the doctors (& dentists) have generally received some Western training and can speak English. The British Embassy also has a shorter list from November 2018 of 4 medical centres in the city that provide 24-hour cover and have English-speaking staff.

A guide to health risks and vaccination recommendations can be found on the TravelHealthPro site

Legal Assistance 

The list of attorneys produced in July 2019 by the American Citizen Services Unit at the US Moscow Embassy includes four law firms based in St Petersburg that variously handle matters of family law, civil law, commercial law & criminal law etc.

Clubs & Associations

International Women's Club of St Petersburg - Membership is open to all women and men living in St Petersburg who hold foreign passports

Petersburg Caledonia - Organises the annual St Andrew's Ball at the start of December and other social events during the year

St Petersburg Association for Foreign Cooperation - The House of Friendship, supported by the City Administration and the Russian Foreign Ministry, is home to 30+ friendship societies & cultural associations, including local branches of the English Speaking Union, Lions Clubs International & the Soroptimists

Junior Chamber International (JCI) - Runs local community projects & leadership development for 'young active citizens age 18 to 40' 

Rotary Club - There are 4 Rotary Clubs & 2 Rotaract Clubs (for those aged 18-30) in St Petersburg

Round Table St Petersburg - A growing association, chartered in 2016 through Round Table Finland

AmCham St Petersburg - The local chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, 'the leading foreign business organisation in Russia'

SPIBA - St Petersburg International Business Association is 'the voice of foreign & Russian companies in North-West Russia'

Educational

The British School in St Petersburg opened in August 2019 and offers Early Years & Primary teaching based on the English National Curriculum

Brookes St Petersburg, based on the campus of the former Anglo-American School, offers Early Years, Primary & Secondary teaching based on the IB programme

CIS International School is located to the north of the city, close to the Lakhta Centre, and offers Early Years, Primary & Secondary teaching based on the Cambridge International programme

The International Academy of St Petersburg is a kindergarten through 12th grade school, 'committed to providing quality international Christian education in English'

International Montessori School offers Toddler (18 months - 3 years) & Primary (3 - 7 years) classes

The British Book Centre is an English-language library and cultural centre that is part of the M. Lermontev Public Library system. It runs speaking clubs, games & film evenings and lectures

The Foreign Language branch of the V.V. Mayakovsky Central Public Library system is at 46 Fontanka Embankment. The building also houses the Prince George Galitzine Memorial Library, 'the only Anglo-Russian Library in St Petersburg'.

Study Abroad Programs

The main programs for US-based students looking to spend a summer, a semester or an academic year studying in St Petersburg are run by AIFS (in conjunction with the Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University), CIEE (in conjunction with the Higher School of Economics), SRAS (in conjunction with the St Petersburg State University of Economics (UNECON)) and American Councils Study Abroad. 

Equivalent programs for UK-based students are run by Russian Language Undergraduate Studies (RLUS) (in conjunction with Benedict School & St Petersburg State University).

The European University at St Petersburg also offers a 1 or 2 semester undergraduate study program, and the Higher School of Economics has a 1 semester or a summer programme, as well as shorter summer school courses.

For more on summer schools and on full-time study at universities in St Petersburg, including postgraduate degrees taught in English, see the Russian Ministry of Higher Education's Study in Russia site.

And you can test the water via Russia's own MOOC platform, the National Open Education Platform, where you can study individual online courses for free from the following Petersburg universities: St Petersburg State University, LETI, ITMO & Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University, as well as a number of other universities across Russia. The site is in Russian, as are the courses, although these do include Russian as a Foreign Language courses.

Teaching English

If you are new to teaching, there are a number of language schools in St Petersburg that offer a 4 week intensive Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification course, including Via Lingua, the 3rd largest provider of TEFL courses in the world, which offers certification courses through its St Petersburg franchisee, Benedict School. 

Several of the language schools (incl. Language Link) also provide paid teaching positions following the successful completion of the course.

Tourism 

If planning a visit to St Petersburg, Findhorn Ecotravels have 25 years experience of organising independent travel & visa support to Russia and using them helps support Ecologia Youth Trust and its work with Kitezh Children’s Community in the Kaluga region.

A highly recommended English-speaking licensed tour guide is Elena Bobrova who specialises in walking & cycling tours and who also offers bespoke tours of the city's museums & sites, including of places associated with the pre-1917 British community.

Twinning

St Petersburg and Manchester have been twinned since 1962 in what is Manchester's oldest formal link, a relationship supported by the Manchester and St Petersburg Friendship Society, and nearby Gatchina is twinned with Coatbridge in Scotland. Pskov also has a Scottish twin, Perth (since 1990), whilst Veliky Novgorod has been twinned since 1984 with Watford.

US sister cities of St Petersburg are Los Angeles (since 1984) and St Petersburg, Florida. The Leningrad Oblast is a sister state of Maryland (1993) and Roanoke, VA is a sister city of Pskov (1994). For a full list of US-Russian sister cities, see this link.

Volunteering and Internships

If already based in St Petersburg, you can find volunteering opportunities by contacting the local charities listed on the Charitable Outreach page of this site. 

The homeless charity «Ночлежка», in particular, is always on the lookout for new volunteers and "Soup and Bread", an outreach programme of the Lutheran Petrikirche, also provides hot meals to the local homeless on Sundays at 09:30 and on Thursdays at 16:00, and welcomes help in supplying, preparing & serving the food.

The International Women's Club has an active Charity Committee supporting organisations in St Petersburg & the LenOblast and St Gregory's Foundation, a UK-Russian charity with Orthodox roots, has volunteering opportunities with the local projects that it supports. 

You can also, of course, work with the church council to help expand the charitable work of the Anglican Church in St Petersburg.

If you are outside Russia and looking to find a volunteering opportunity in St Petersburg, you can visit one of the main portals such as Go Overseas or Go Abroad. 

And Liden & Denz, a private language centre set up in St Petersburg in 1992, arranges volunteering in local charities, combined with Russian language study. It also can arrange local (unpaid, 3 month) internships, including blogger/vlogger internships at Liden & Denz itself.  

Other

The Angleterre Cinema Lounge shows foreign language films (usually UK/US) in the original language with Russian subtitles

The Anglia Bookshop at 38 Fontanka Embankment stocks English books, including textbooks, and other foreign language literature

The English Element is a multi national choir 'with an English music thread running through its repertoire'

Happy Kelpie, founded in 2015, is the first, and so far only, Morris dancing 'side' in Russia 

Parkrun, which started in London's Bushy Park in 2004, came to Russia in 2014 and offers year-round 5km timed runs in parks every Saturday morning at 09:00 (10:00 in winter). There are now 9 parkruns in St Petersburg including Yelagin Island, Pushkin & Peterhof (& 99 parkruns in total in Russia, covering the country from Smolensk to Yakutsk).

British Football School provides Saturday training sessions, run in English by FA/UEFA qualified coaches, for children aged from 3-4 (1 hour session) to 10-13 (2 hour session) 

The English Rowing Club was established in May 2010 as the modern successor to the Arrow Rowing Club, originally founded in 1864 as the 1st rowing club in St Petersburg 

YMCA St Petersburg Regional Office runs sports, drama, cultural, after-school & scouts programmes for children