There was a time, nearly 300 years ago, when Petersburg became the capital of the vast empire of Peter the Great. But today St. Petersburg is known among Russians mostly as the country's crime capital. Statistically, the image is wrong. There are more dangerous cities and places. But Petersburg has a deadly and infectious air of lawlessness and hopelessness. It is a town where murders are brutal and public--a deputy mayor hit by snipers, an opposition leader gunned down on her stairwell. The crimes are rarely solved.
Peter's inspiration for the city probably came from Amsterdam. But his ambition quickly grew....
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