In spring 1986, Gennadi Gerasimov, then Novosti Press correspondent in Washington, D.C., accepted an invitation to Alaska from Juneau peace ac- tivist Dixie Belcher. Over the weeks he spent in the state, Gerasimov, soon to become a key Soviet Foreign ministry official, agreed with Belcher that people getting to know each other was an essential step toward peace be- tween the superpowers, and that art and culture were the appropriate ve- hicles. In the fall of that year, Belcher organized the "Alaska Performing Artists for Peace," a collection of 65 Alaskans, including Eskimo dancers, rock performers, and gospel and folk singers. Gerasimov opened the door, and the group performed to enthusiastic crowds in six Siberian and other Soviet towns. The following year, 1987, the Soviets began allowing some direct cross-border contacts. In August, Marathon swimmer Lynne Cox was permitted to swim from Little Diomede to Big Diomede Island together with an escort boat. In September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel Surveyor made a warmly received port call at Provideniya on Chukotka.
The year 1988 saw real progress in Alaska's relationship with its western neighbor.
• In April, the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, through its Siber- ian Gateway Project, and the Alaska Office of International Trade sponsored a conference on Alaska-Siberia relations, featuring Ger- asimov, who made one of his four Alaska visits.
• In June, an Alaska Airlines jet carried Alaska public officials, Eski- mos with relatives in Chukotka, and national media representatives on a 30 minute "Friendship Flight" from Nome to Provideniya. • In October, Alaska Commissioner of Health and Social Services Myra
Munson and director Ted Mala of the University of Alaska's Insti- tute for Circumpolar Health Studies led a delegation to Chukotka and to Magadan, where a scientific cooperation protocol was signed. • Also in October, an Alaska trade delegation, headed by the gover-
nor's chief of staff, visited Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, and Vladivostok. A sister-state agreement was signed with Khabarovski Kray, and cooperation protocols were signed with the other regions.
Alaska and the Far East 85 on a Soviet research vessel. The group, including Magadan region's Governor Vyacheslav Kobets, flew to Anchorage and met with Alas- ka Governor Steve Cowper. Interest was expressed in joint venture opportunities in tourism, reindeer processing, mining, and commu- nications.
These ice-breaking exchanges were the basis for a major event in Febru- ary 1989: a week-long visit by close to a hundred guests who came to A n - chorage by a chartered Aeroflot flight from Moscow and Magadan. They included a Russian folk group and Eskimo dancers who joined local choir groups and dancers for a gala concert, a top Soviet rock group that per- formed in Anchorage's sports arena before a crowd of thousands, top regional leaders, and high Soviet officials who also went to Juneau for meetings with the governor and state legislators, business delegates, school children and teachers, and a large contingent of print and T V media. The event was billed "Soviet/American Reunion 1989." Anchorage received the visitors with enthusiasm. Most of them lived in private homes and had their first exposure to American life. When people parted, it was with tears and lasting friendships.
This people-to-people event was the first of many large-scale visita- tions. Now the presence of Russians has become so routine that the public accepts it as part of daily life. Yet the excitement continues, especially on occasions such as when Fairbanks hosts its sister-city Yakutsk, or when Juneau (Alaska's capital with 30,000 people) opens its arms to a delega- tion of 150 from its sister-city Vladivostok (700,000).
The following are some other examples:
• Anchorage Rotarians have made three visits a year to Magadan in groups of 40 or more. They organized a Rotary Club there, and this has given rise to massive return visits to this side.
• Hundreds of students and teachers have been involved in exchanges, extending from large cities to small hamlets on both sides. Most Alaskans have gone to the Far East, though some have visited schools as far away as St. Petersburg and Kishinev.
• A n international reserve, called the Beringia Heritage Park, is being established along the Seward and Chukotka Peninsulas in accordance with a 1990 agreement signed by President George Bush and Presi- dent Mikhail Gorbachev.
• The University of Alaska has a variety of cooperation agreements, covering faculty and student exchanges and research, with higher edu- cation institutions in Yakutsk, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, and else- where. The university is assisting Magadan authorities in establishing a pedagogical university in that region.
• Sports events occur all the time: kayak and umiak voyages between Chukotka and Alaska; ski and dog team expeditions; exchanges of
86 Victor Fischer
hockey, basketball, and other teams; a mass swim across the Bering Strait between the two Diomede Islands.
• A n ecumenical center for religion and culture is being jointly devel- oped in Magadan; the project is spearheaded by Anchorage Arch- bishop Hurley and the Magadan Religious Affairs Department. • Four conferences at University of Alaska Fairbanks attracted more
than 150 participants from the Soviet Union.
• Nome, Alaska, businesses accept rubles from Russians, which are then sold to American tourists.
• A close relationship has been established by several Eskimo villages and native regional corporations in Western Alaska with Eskimo and Chukchi communities and organizations in Chukotka. Aleut ties are similarly evolving.
• A total of close to 9,000 people have flown directly between Alaska and the Russian Far East.