On June 11, Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the US held a national conference of various Russian compatriot organizations in Washington DC.

The goal was to have organizations tell about their work, as well as listen to the mission of the coordinating council, as well as a report of the work that has been done since the current council was elected in August 2014.

CRA President and Chair of the Coordinating Council, Natalie Sabelnik introduced the Russian Federation Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, who gave the opening address.  Other speakers included Oleg Zhiganov, Rossotrudnichestvo representative in the US, and all four of the Russian Consulate Generals (New York, Houston, San Francisco and Seattle).

Two of CRA directors, Elena Branson and Alexey Tarassov also attended the conference, and spoke of their work.  On June 12, CRA directors, N. Sabelnik, E.Branson and A.Tarasov, as well as Los Angeles CRA members, Ivan Podvalov and Ludmila Petlitskaya attended the “Russia Day” reception at the Russian Embassy.