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Spring 2002 ARCHANGEL LEGISLATORS VISIT MAINE As part of the Rule of Law Program, two members of the Archangel Oblast Regional Duma (Legislature) visited Maine in late February 2002 and were hosted by the Maine House of Representatives. The visiting delegates were Stanislav Vtori (Union Party Leader) and Yuri Spiridonov (Chair of the Housing and Energy Committee). They were guided by Maine Representatives Charles LaVerdiere of Wilton and William Savage of Buxton. Their program was intense as they participated in a number of committee sessions and meetings, met Governor Angus King, toured the Portland Fish Exchange, visited a paper mill and a gas-fired generating plant, lunched with Maine's Chief Justice, and were greeted as guests of honor by House Speaker Michael Saxl in the general Legislative sessions. They were particularly impressed with the ceremonies of each Legislative session (prayer, National Anthem, and Pledge of Allegiance) and with the fact that Maine school children not only visit House Chamber in large numbers but also that many students work there as pages. Mr. Vtori said that he hopes to "introduce such improvements into the daily work of the Regional Assembly". ANNUAL SOCIAL GATHERING HIGHLIGHTS MUTUAL INTERESTS The Annual Social Gathering of our Archangel Committee was held on the afternoon of February 24, 2002 at the U.S. M. Campus Center in Portland. Leaders and members from the Portsmouth/Severodvinsk Connection and from the Waterville/Kotlas Connection attended and spoke of their programs and plans. Archangel Duma Representatives Stanislav Vtori and Yuri Spiridonov were guests of honor and they spoke of political and economic issues in the Archangel Oblast. Mr. Spiridonov represents the people of Severodvinsk in the Duma and he fielded a number of questions from the Portsmouth delegation. Archangel Committee members Dennis Marrotte and Jean Souliere presented a slide show on the recent visit of Archangel World War II Convoy Veteran Boris Korotyaev to Maine and his participation in the November 2001 Liberty Ship Memorial Dedication Ceremony in South Portland. In addition, Dennis, Jean and Yuri Spiridonov (who is a World War II historian) presented a photo collage of the Ceremony to our third guest of honor, 86 year old Shirley Wilder, a welder at the South Portland Shipyard during the War. PORTSMOUTH AND WATERVILLE GROUPS ARE ACTIVE In February 2002, the P/S Connection hosted Alexander Nikitin, a former Russian naval officer who was charged with treason when he revealed information about nuclear pollution in the White and Barents Seas. A number of events were held during his visit and members of our Archangel Committee were able to attend. The Waterville/Kotlas Connection held its Tenth Annual Russian Sampler Day at Colby College on March 25, 2002. This lively day of workshops and presentations allowed more than 240 junior high students from all over central Maine to learn about Russian life and culture. Archangel Committee members Neale Duffett and Dennis Marrotte presented sessions on Russian Legal Reform and World War II convoy operations respectively; and Kotlas School Number 3 teacher Luba Zinovkina presented sessions on Russian education and music. FMI about Kotlas: www.wtvl.net/kotlas . MINNESOTA SPORTS TEAM VISITS ARCHANGEL An All-Star Team of American skaters from Minnesota represented the USA at the March 2002 Russian Government Cup Bandy Championships in Archangel; the 19 member U.S. team competed against teams from Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Bandy is a sport played on an ice surface the size of a soccer field with sticks and a ball instead of a puck. The Americans were warmly received by their Russian hosts and played before large and enthusiastic crowds at the outdoor arena in Archangel. The President of The American Bandy Association, Paul Meehl, commented that several of the players on Team Russia (which is based in Archangel and which won the Championship) are excellent skaters and could easily play in the National Hockey League in North America. Efforts are underway to make Bandy a competitive sport at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. FMI, check out www.americanbandy.com . UPCOMING DELEGATIONS June 1 to 8 - A five member high-level delegation led by Maine Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner Jane Lincoln and U.S. Highway Administration Assistant Director Henry Nevares will visit Archangel and focus on multi-modal transport, pavement issues and the environment. The delegation will meet with Oblast Governor Anatoli Yefremov and Vice-Governor Peter Orlov (who visited Maine in July 2001). June 15 to 24 - Two Maine D.O.T. engineers, Arnold Fox and Peter Couglin, will visit Archangel to conduct a gravel roads workshop. This trip was originally scheduled for mid September 2001. Late June - Severodvinsk Mayor Alexander Belyaev hopes to visit Portsmouth, New Hampshire. July 20 to 26 - Two Archangel Department of Transportation engineers will visit Maine as part of a 3 week stay in the United States. August 3 to 10 - A nine member group of Archangel Region judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers will be hosted here by the Maine Judiciary and Law School. The visit will focus on jury trial issues and the new Russian Code of Criminal Procedure; jury trials will be mandated in serious Russian criminal cases as of January 1, 2003. August 5 to 19 - An eleven member delegation from Waterville will visit Moscow, Kotlas and Saint Petersburg. The trip will focus on strengthening relationships between Waterville and Kotlas and will be led by the Co-Chairs of the Waterville Sister City Committee: Phil Gonyar (873-6562) and Jack Mayhew (872-2230). September - A delegation of Maine judges, lawyers, and law professors is expected to visit Archangel to continue the work in preparing for Russian jury trials. NEWS/NOTES FROM THE ARCHANGEL REGION Streetcars will be eliminated from Archangel's Troitsky Prospect from July 15th to September 1st in an experiment to see if busses can meet the need. 13,400 hectares (about 33,000 acres) of wilderness have been set aside as state protected land near Kotlas. For the first time, military bases in the Archangel Region opened their gates for Parents and Family Day this past February. Ivan Zorin, who lives on Karl Marx Street in Severodvinsk, won a recent citywide competition for the cleanest and most attractive yard. Only 3 of 20 persons aboard survived the crash of a military AN-26 turboprop aircraft near the City of Archangel during a snowstorm in February. Archangel's leading daily newspaper, Y7ze Truth of the North, celebrated its 85thanniversary on April 20, 2002. The first volume of a planned five volume treatise entitled The History of the Archangel North was published in January 2002. This effort culminates nearly 8 years of research and is edited by Vladimir Bulatov, the Rector of Pomor State University. A motor vehicle caravan will leave Archangel soon for Chechnya with donated food and construction materials that will be given to 140 Archangel soldiers on 6 month tours of duty there. This war still rages: the body of 19 year old soldier Alexi Chemyshov was recently returned to his hometown of Severodvinsk after being killed-in-action in Chechnya. Students in Kotlas have organized against illegal drug abuse; Kotlas Musical School Number 7 recently performed and gave classes in Archangel. In January 2002, Archangel Region Governor Anatoli Yefremov led a trade delegation to Brussels in Belgium where several European countries expressed interest in importing Archangel timber, diamonds and natural gas; using the ship repair facilities in Severodvinsk; using the satellite launching capabilities in Plesetsk; and sending tourists to the Solovki Islands. Nikoli Malakov (who visited Maine in the summer of 2000) has been appointed as the Vice Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Region in the extreme northeast part of the Archangel Oblast; Conoco has invested over $300 million in developing the Timan-Pechora oil and gas fields there. 147 years ago in May 1855, a huge fire destroyed many of the wooden buildings in the City of Archangel. In 2001, the City of Archangel reported municipal income of about 1.8 billion rubles (about $60 million U.S. dollars.) The Governor of Norway's northernmost province has proposed an official relationship between the museum complex in the ancient city of Vardo, Norway and the Museum of Wooden Architecture at Mayle Kareli. The shipyards in Severodvinsk are getting more work: overhauls on a diesel submarine for the Indian Navy and on a Delta IV nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine (K-84 Ekaterinburg) for the Russian Navy have just been completed, and the new Akula II nuclear powered fast attack submarine Gepard has just been commissioned in the Russian Navy by President Vladimir Putin. Concert organist Victor Ryakhin (who visited Maine in October 1994) recently visited Emden, Germany and performed several organ concerts in a number of venues, including a church built in 1432. (Emden is another of Archangel’s Sister Cities). On April 13, 2002, Russian Army Major General Alexander Gorin presided at a solemn ceremony at the Eternal Flame on the Embankment in Archangel. The ceremony marked the departure of the Gomel Air Defense Division from Archangel after many years of being based there. This proud Division is named after a city in Belarus that was captured by the invading German Army in 1941 and liberated by the Russian Army more than two long years later. The bodies of all eight Archangel Region sailors lost on the submarine Kursk (K-141) have been recovered from the salvaged submarine and have been buried with full military honors. INTERNET NEWS We thank Great Works Internet for hosting our Committee Website. Visit us at www.arkhangelsk.org . |
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