A 'Friendship Force' Russian delegation mostly from Siberia gather at Red's Old 395 Grill Wednesday night. They are visiting environmental sites and nature preserves for eight days while in the United States. From left they are: Valentina Semenchenko, Fedor Srelinikov, Olga Kudrina, Dmitry Sychikov, Olga Tikhonova, Evegeniy Babushkin and translator Alexander Kraihiy. If you are interested in Friendship Force call Sharon Urban at 775-267-9053.
Seven Russian delegates have been in the area including Carson City and Minden for the past week as part of the Open World Leadership Center, a legislative branch agency that supports outreach for congressional members and conducts exchanges to establish lasting professional relationships between emerging leaders and their U.S. counterparts.
Delegates are provided exposure to American politics and civic life and are hosted by American families. Congress established Open World in 1999. Since then more than 26,000 Eurasian leaders have participated in Open World.
The delegates who have visited the area are Evgenii Babushkin, Olga Kudrina, Valentina Semenchenko, Fedor Strelnikov, Dmitrii Sychikov, facilitator Olga Tikhonova and translator Alexander Krainiy. The delegates have been in the area since Feb. 2 and will be here through Feb. 10.
The theme of their trip has been National Parks/Nature Preserves and they met with Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Mark Amodei on Feb. 1 in Washington, D.C. The delegation has been hosted by Reno/Tahoe’s Friendship Force.
For information on Open World visit www.openworld.gov/.