Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel arrived in this northern Russian city Sunday as part of a European tour that already included Ireland, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

Upon his arrival at Pulkovo airport, Diaz-Canel was received by the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the St. Petersburg government, Evgueni Grogoriev, the Vice President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba Ricardo Cabrisas and Cuba's ambassador to Russia Gerardo Peñalver.

The stay in the so-called northern Russian capital includes a tour through the Hermitage gallery and other places of historical interest, while tomorrow he will go to the cemetery of the victims of the Leningrad blockade and the Foberge figures museum.

Cuba's head of state will meet with the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov and the President of the Legislative Assembly of the region Viacheslav Makarov.

This comes just days after Diaz-Canel delivered a speech on Friday on the first day of the plenary session of the high-level segment of the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), held in recent days in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

During the event, the Cuban head of state denounced the U.S. blockade against his country and the harmful effects of the tightening of that cruel siege in recent months.