To support Ukraine, WA is cutting ties with Russia. Should Tacoma’s sister city be next?
It’s complicated now. There’s no denying it.
Tacoma has a total of 13 sister cities across the globe. Recently, we’ve heard a lot about one of them — Brovary, Ukraine — in light of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the country. Last week, The News Tribune reported on a deadly airstrike in the city that killed six people. Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards — who visited Brovary in 2018 — has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unhinged warmaking, while seeking to support Brovary and Ukrainian immigrants in the City of Destiny.
Unsurprisingly, we haven’t heard nearly as much about Vladivostok — a Russian port city of roughly 600,000 — which has been a sister city to Tacoma since 1992, not long after the fall of the Soviet Union. At a time when residents of Tacoma are sending thoughts, prayers, medical supplies and other aid to Bovary, Tacoma’s connection to Vladivostok has largely been an afterthought.
The question is: should it be?
As city leaders rightfully denounce Russia’s attack on Ukraine, state officials move to cut business ties with the country and U.S. President Joe Biden ratchets up sanctions, is it time for Tacoma to officially end its relationship with one of its oldest sister cities — even if the move would be largely symbolic?
Like I said: It’s complicated — but worth considering, for the message it might send and what might be lost.
Symbolic, but important
Clearly, there are reasons why cutting ties with Vladivostok — while performative — would be more meaningful than any number of resolutions or proclamations that Tacoma’s City Council regularly entertains.
It also wouldn’t be a first.
Earlier this week, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan sent a letter to the Leningrad region in Russia, officially ending the state’s sister city relationship after nearly 30 years. Hogan acknowledged that the move was little more than a “symbolic” gesture, but told reporters it was an important one.
The mayors of Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina have taken similar measures.
Bluntly, Hogan said his state was “taking every action we can to voice that support” for Ukraine.
“It is the duty of every government to remain vigilant of unlawful acts against public order, democratic principles, and innocent civilians,” Hogan wrote in his letter to Leningrad Gov. Aleksandr Drozdenko. “Having witnessed the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, I am obliged to immediately dissolve and terminate Maryland’s partnership with the Leningrad Region.”
In Washington, Governor Jay Inslee has moved to cancel state contracts with Russian institutions and prominent companies, while Republican legislators Drew Stokesbary and Drew MacEwen recently dropped a bill that would require the State Investment Board to divest from its pension and other investments in Russian companies.
According to the website of the Lieutenant Governor’s office, other Washington cities with sister city relationships in Russia include Bellingham and Everett.
‘It’s about the people’
In Tacoma, no momentum to split up with Vladivostok seems to exist.
On Thursday, Woodards and Tacoma Sister Cities Chair Clare Petrich doubled down on criticism of Putin, while also arguing that the local connection to Vladivostok is worth preserving.
While Woodards said that cutting ties to Vladivostok would be possible — particularly since the two cities haven’t had an active relationship in recent years — she believes that sister city relationships, which typically involve promoting peace and shared business interests, are valuable. Woodards also noted that Tacoma doesn’t have financial investments in Russia, which she said was one of the first things city officials checked in response to the war in Ukraine.
As an example of the importance of sister city relationships, Woodards pointed to the recent vigil at Thea’s Park held in support of Ukraine, noting that the event was orchestrated with help from both the sister city committee of Brovary and Vladivostok.
Sister city relationships help to illuminate the connections and shared values of people across the world, regardless of geography or political leaders, Woodards believes.
“There’s power in being able to go to a country and understand how different we are, but how alike we all are,” Woodards said.
Petrich, who spent nearly 25 years on the Port of Tacoma Commission and remembers the early years of the city’s relationship with Vladivostok, agreed. Petrich noted that after Vladivostok opened its port to the world in the early 1990s, it quickly became a sister port with Tacoma, as well as a sister city.
It’s a relationship that bore economic fruit, Petrich said, and one that served both cities well. She recalled visiting Vladivostok a few years after Tacoma’s sister city relationship was forged, and the immense sense of possibilities at the time.
“It was a thrilling time to be there,” Petrich said.”Vladivostok’s port was now transparent, and open to the world.”
Former News Tribune reporter and columnist C.R. Roberts also has fond memories of time spent in Vladivostok. In 1996, Roberts visited the city along with former editor Randy McCarthy and reporter Jonathan Nesvig. Roberts recalled a city not unlike Tacoma — on the water, rough around the edges but proud — and the warmth with which he was received.
Roberts also clearly remembered how stark the differences were between life in Tacoma and life in Vladivostok, and how so many of the people he met desperately wanted to immigrate to the United States. He’s kept in contact with a few, including a father now living in the Russian Far East, who he says recently wrote to him expressing “shame” for what Putin has done.
One thing the experience reminded Roberts: People are people, wherever they call home.
“I found the Russian people to be friendly and honest and interested in their families, kind of like Americans,” Roberts said. “It’s the government that’s screwed things up.”
Democracy and peace
For Woodards, that sentiment is at the heart of her views on the matter.
Sure, Tacoma could publicly denounce Russia and end its sister city relationship with Vladivostok, but in the end it probably wouldn’t do much — other than close the door on a city-to-city, person-to-person friendship that has enriched both places over the years.
According to Woodards, the better option is for Tacoma to stick it out — while providing examples of democracy and peace for the everyday Russian people who call Vladivostok home.
Rather than splitting up, Woodards would like to find ways to support people in Vladivostok who don’t support the country’s war with Ukraine, she said.
“I think it’s important to keep relationships, especially when our countries are going through turmoil,” Woodards said.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
