On May 26, 2019, CRA President, Natalie Sabelnik met with the Mayor of Krasnoyarsk, Sergey Eryomin at the Krasnoyarsk Social Festival “City of equals – building together” on the island of Tatyshev. N.Sabelnik came to Krasnoyarsk on May 19 (through May 27) by personal invitation of the mayor to participate in meetings with Krasnoyarsk Region officials (governor’s office), as well as Krasnoyarsk city administration, and to take part as a guest speaker on their first day of the festival on their social & humanitarian issues. N.Sabelnik reported that she was pleasantly and unexpectedly surprised how Krasnoyarsk was focusing on aid to seniors, handicapped, people with disabilities and mobility issues and all the programs they now had in place, as well as an emphasis on volunteerism, including middle-aged volunteers, teens and children. This was something that CRA had hoped for when they first started their humanitarian aid after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The last time, Natalie Sabelnik visited Krasnoyarsk was over 15 years ago, when she worked as Commercial Director for Chevron International, and commented on how the city had grown and prospered, appearing to be like other major European cities that she had visited during the past years.
N.Sabelnik established a relationship with Krasnoyarsk city administration in 2011, when she facilitated city official VIP visits in 2012 for the Fort Ross Bicentennial celebrations. Since then, there have been other exchange and participation in other events and projects.
This year, Krasnoyarsk hosted the World Student Games (Universiade) and it was telecast on local TV stations in the US. N.Sabelnik commented on how upscale the games were, and was now impressed by the professionalism and quality of the Social Festival. During the conference, where N.Sabelnik was a guest speaker, the auditorium, seating over 1000 people was filled to capacity, showing how many citizens of Krasnoyarsk were interested in these programs.
Natalie Sabelnik’s participation in projects, significant for Krasnoyarsk, became the main subjects of the meeting with Mayor Eryomin – preserving the memory of commodore Nikolay Rezanov, who is buried in Krasnoyarsk; interaction of US & Russia along the Alaska-Siberia route. As next year approaches, it is important to note how US & Russia were allies in WWII and the Alaska-Siberia route is an excellent example of this. Also during the meeting, N.Sabelnik suggested a sister-city relationship of Krasnoyarsk, suggesting Sacramento, the capital of the State of California; development of various tourist exchange, as Krasnoyarsk region is so vast that there are many possibilities for interesting adventure tours, cruises and, since it is on the Trans-Siberian route to have a stop over for touring of historical places, museums, and other noteworthy landmarks.
Having just completed a Russian Children’s Art Competition that CRA sponsored as a national contest, discussions were also raised about projects including children and students, whereby US & Russian children can cooperate together in various projects.
N.Sabelnik was especially grateful to Inna Dozortseva, Head of the Department of External Affairs of the Krasnoyarsk city administration and Alexander Yuzhannikov, a prominent leader in the Krasnoyarsk community, professor at the Siberian Federal University, chair of the board of trustees at the Archbishop’s residency and the Church of St.John the Baptist. He is also an elected official of the city council, and has been instrumental in preserving the memory and history of Commodore Rezanov. Both arranged visits to various museums, including the Prelate Nikolay Steamship Museum, the monument to Nikolay Rezanov in the town square, as well as the monument cross at the Trinity cemetery, Museum of History of the Krasnoyarsk Railroad, Victory Memorial Museum and various art museums, which were at the time closed to the public and opened for a special viewing and docent tour by the directors of the museums. N.Sabelnik also spoke at the Siberian Federal University to the graduating class on law and international relations and the English Club to their members, interested, not only on learning the English language, but all the nuances of life in the US.
A most interesting stop and close to heart was the visit to the St.John the Baptist church at the liturgy on the Feast Day of St.Nicholas (May 22), where she was able to meet with the priest, Father Nicholas and take part in his namesday celebration, as well as meet Archbishop Panteleimon, who himself had just returned from a trip around the Krasnoyarsk region. An interesting piece of history of this church was that it was founded and built in 1866, but in 1920, it was taken over by the Bolsheviks and under the Soviet regime turned into a hospital. One of the doctors during this period was recently canonized a saint, healer of the ill, St.Luke, and the building began restoration to a church again in 1999, and was recently opened again for services.
Mayor Sergey Eryomin thanked Natalie Sabelnik for the visit and all discussed initiatives: “We are ready to support the ideas, to participate, help with the organization of cultural exchange.”. The city of Krasnoyarsk and Congress of Russian Americans have shared common goals, projects and work for nearly 10 years, but N.Sabelnik’s history goes back further, as many of her relatives live in Krasnoyarsk after returning from China, where they ended up after the revolution, when N.Sabelnik’s family found refuge in Tubabao and were divided once again. 
