11 January 2021 To the Members of the Biden Transition Team Regarding the closures of U.S. Consulates in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok

We strongly oppose the proposal by the U.S. Department of State in filing 20-381 to close the two U.S. Consulates General in the Russian Federation - temporarily in Yekaterinburg, and permanently in Vladivostok. This action would severely damage the ability of the United States to monitor events in, and provide services across, the immense territory of the Russian Federation east of the Urals, and bordering on such geo-strategically crucial countries as China, Japan, and North Korea. With China rapidly expanding its influence in the region, this is not the time for the United States to weaken its presence.

The Department of State proposal fails to appreciate the essential role the Consulates play in remote regions far from Moscow. In a country the size of Russia, these Consulates and their functions are invaluable and their local staff and regional expertise cannot be relocated to the Embassy in Moscow. Any Consulate closure will adversely affect our ability to advance core U.S. national interests and provide critical services to U.S. citizens and companies in the regions.

We particularly object to the permanent closure of the Vladivostok Consulate. The Russian Far East shares the Pacific Rim with the states of the U.S. West Coast and Alaska. These states and their citizens have for almost 30 years enjoyed wide-ranging relations with the Russian Far East in trade, tourism, education, and environmental cooperation. We stress the importance of these mutually beneficial relationships in the broader context of our relations with the Pacific Rim.

The role of the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok is vital to preserve and support these relationships. U.S. companies in the Russian Far East, including Exxon Neftegas Limited (an ExxonMobil subsidiary and the largest US investment in Russia), rely on the services of the Consulate General in Vladivostok. The Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP), a 25-year bilateral forum supporting wide-ranging cooperative relations between the region of the Russian Far East and U.S. western states, likewise relies on these services. Seasonal air service that has supported tourism, trade, scientific and cultural exchanges between Alaska and the Russian Far East since 2009 depends on the Consulate for both crew and passenger visas. Multiple Sister- City relationships, and the National Park Service’s “Beringia Shared Heritage Program,” advance U.S. national interests by fostering healthy economic, social, and environmental ties with the Russian Far East. These are but a few examples of important activities that would be disrupted or disabled if the Consulate permanently closes. The State Department asserts in its filing that the functions of the Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok Consulates could be smoothly taken over by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. This claim ignores the geography, logistics, and regional significance of Eastern Russia, and overestimates the Embassy’s capacity to serve U.S. interests there. Eastern Russia, which stretches from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and from the Chinese border to the Arctic, stretches up to 5,000 miles and nine time zones from Moscow. Not only Russia, but also China, Japan and North Korea would see the closure of the U.S. Consulates in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok as a U.S. retreat. It would play into the hands of opponents of democracy and freedom. This is clearly not the time for the U.S. to display weakness in its policies toward Russia, or to diminish our ability to monitor developments in the Russian regions. We understand that the Congressional notification period has run out on filing 20-381, but we strongly urge that the incoming Biden Administration reconsider and reverse this ill- considered proposal.

Sincerely,

Mark Dudley, Regional Director for North America, InterPacific Aviation and Marketing, Inc. Rose Gottemoeller, former Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, U.S. State Dept., former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Derek Norberg, President, Council for US-Russia Relations and Executive Director RAPP

List of Those Joining Letter Opposing U.S. Consulate Closures in Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok 21 January 2021

Tom Armbruster, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Consul General Vladivostok (2007- 2010), New York, NY

Amelia J Beaudoin, President, Ouzel International Expeditions, Girdwood, AK

Mark R. Beissinger, Henry W. Putnam Professor of Politics, Princeton University

Margaret Betchart, President, Betchart Expeditions Inc., Cupertino, CA

John R. Beyrle, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Russia (2008-2012), Chairman, US-Russia Foundation

Dmitry Bezruchko, Business Development Manager, High Liner Foods, Nova Scotia, Canada (US office in Portsmouth, NH)

Lief Bjelland, Senior Category Manager - Inbound Logistics, ExxonMobil, Houston, TX

William E. Blair, President, The Best of Kamchatka LLC, Boulder, CO

Ignat Bojanov, President, Ocean Express Trading, LLC, Redmond, WA

Governor Jerry Brown, former Governor of California

Thomas K. Bundtzen, President, Pacific Rim Geological Consulting, Inc., Fairbanks, AK

Trey Byus, Chief Expedition Officer (CXO), Lindblad Expeditions, Seattle, WA

Jennifer Castner, Director, The Altai Project, East Lansing, MI

Melissa Chapin, President, Alaskan Russian Center, Fairbanks, AK

Viktoriya V. Chilcote, Interpreter/Project Manager, Eng-Ru Language and Logistic Services, LLC, Member, Portland-Khabarovsk Sister City Assoc., McCall, ID

James F. Collins, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Russia (1997-2001), Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Thomas Countryman, retired, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation (2011-17)

Dr. Kenneth Dekleva, U.S. Dept. of State, Minister-Counselor (ret,) and former Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatrist (2002-2016); U.S. Embassy Moscow (2002-2004; 2010- 2013), Dallas, TX

Taunya DeYoung, Expedition Manager, Betchart Expeditions Inc., Menlo Park, CA

Jill Dougherty, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University. Washington, DC

Gloria Duffy, President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club

Sergey Dunayev, COO, Polar Marine, LLC., Bellevue, WA

Alex Durmashkin, President, American-Russian Business Council, Sherman Oaks, CA

Robert Eugene Durnell, Vice President, Ouzel International Expeditions, Girdwood, Alaska

David Edick Jr, Past President, San Diego World Affairs Council and Past President, San Diego – Vladivostok Sister City Society, San Diego, CA

Alan Ellis, Past President, Portland-Khabarovsk Sister City Association (PKSCA), Portland, OR

Brian Finlay, President & CEO, The Stimson Center

Rosemarie Forsythe, former Director, Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, NSC

Sergey Frolov, President. Pacific Network USA Inc., Seattle, WA

Paul Fuhs, President Emeritus, Marine Exchange of Alaska, Anchorage, AK

Jeff Geer, President, GFR Technical Services Inc, Ferndale, WA

James Goodby, Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University and U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Finland

Daniel Gotham, U.S. Citizen, Seattle, WA

Douglas Grimes, President, MIR Corporation, Seattle, WA

Thane Gustafson, Professor of Government, Georgetown University

Sheila Gwaltney, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Moscow (2011-2014), U.S. Consul General St. Petersburg (2008-2011)

Henry Hale, George Washington University

Senator Gary Hart, United States Senator (ret.)

Siegfried S. Hecker, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Stanford University

Martin E. Hellman, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University

M. Christie Helmer, Partner, Miller Nash Graham & Dunn law firm, Portland, OR & Seattle, WA

John Hoeflich, Entrepreneur , Private Investment Enterprises, Redding, CA

Russell B. Howell, Former Director American Russian Center (1998-2009), University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK

Edward Ifft, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, CA

Pavel Izbekov, Research Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

Tracey Jacobson, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kosovo

Robert Jervis, Columbia University

Jan Kalicki, Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Laura Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), Deputy Asst Secretary of State EUR, Ambassador to Turkmenistan, Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament

Rada Khadjinova, Member, Center for Russian American Friendship and Trade, Anchorage, AK

Michael C. Kimmage, Catholic University of America; German Marshall Fund

Gunnar Knapp, Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK

Michael Krepon, Co-founder and Distinguished Fellow, The Stimson Center

George A. Krol, U.S. Ambassador (ret.); U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus; Minister Counselor, U.S. Embassy Russia; Director, U.S. State Department Office of Russian Affairs

Daniel Kurtzer, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel

Jeff Landfield, Editor-in-Chief, The Alaska Landmine, Anchorage, AK

Robert Legvold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

Steven LeTellier, Vice President / CFO, Travel Document Systems, Washington DC

Rene Limeres, Operations Manager, Ultimate Rivers, Healy, AK

Glen Lockwood, Infrastructure Development Consultant, Volcano, HI

Annie Lucas, Vice President, MIR Corporation, Seattle, WA

William H. Luers, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), Ambassador to Venezuela and Czechoslovakia; President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986-1999)

Martha Madsen, Owner, Explore Kamchatka, Homer, AK

Eileen A. Malloy, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, U.S. charge to Turkmenistan, Senior Advisor for Russia to the Secretary of Energy

Steven R. Mann, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan (1998- 2001), former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (2006-2008)

Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to USSR, 1987-91

Michael McFaul, Director, Freeman-Spogli Institute, Professor of International Studies, Department of Political Science, Stanford University

Bruce A. McDonald, Lawyer, Washington, DC

Scott McMurren, Publisher, Alaska Travelgram, Anchorage, AK

Megan McPhee, Associate Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, AK

Mark Medish, Former NSC Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia

Michael Michalak, CEO, The Fly Shop, Inc., Redding, Ca

Richard Miles, U.S. Ambassador (ret.)

Justin Miller, The Fly Shop, Redding CA

Desiree Millikan, Foreign Service Officer (ret.), U.S. Consul General Vladivostok (1994- 1996), San Francisco, CA

Larry C. Napper, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), Ambassador to Latvia and Kazakhstan, Professor, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University

Julie Newton, Research Fellow, Russian & Eurasian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford

Nick Nickolaychuk, President, Amrus Logistics, Inc., Bellevue, WA

Margaret A. Niles, Attorney, Board Member, Council for US-Russia Relations, Seattle, WA

Lella Norberg, Managing Broker, Windermere Real Estate Shoreline, Shoreline, WA

Natalia Novikova, Founder and President, ForSea Solutions LLC, Portland, OR

Olga Oliker, Program Director, Europe and Central Asia, The International Crisis Group

Dennis Ortblad, Foreign Service Officer (ret.), U.S. Embassy Berlin (2003-2006), Polit./Econ. Counselor Embassy Bern (1999-2003), Consul General Sapporo (1992- 1995), Executive Secretariat, State Department (1991-2), Country Officer for Poland (1985-1987), Seattle, WA

Richard Page, President, SOAR International Ministries, Kenai, AK

Deborah A. Palmieri, Ph.D., Honorary Consul of Russian Federation in Colorado, Denver, CO

Ilya Pankov, President, Distribution By Air, Seattle, WA

Catherine Pawlick, CEO, Words International Inc., San Francisco, CA

Dr. and Mrs. Gene F. Pawlick, San Mateo, CA

William J. Perry, former U.S. Secretary of Defense

Peter Pettibone, Independent Arbitrator & Mediator, New York, NY

Sarah Peyton, Owner, Educator, Sarah Peyton Inc./Empathy Brain, Vancouver, WA

Thomas W. Pickering, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), Under Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to Russia, India, the United Nations, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria and Jordan

Steven Pifer, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, 1998-2000

William C. Potter, Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar Professor of Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Jon Purnell, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan (2004-2007)

David Ramseur, author, “Melting the Ice Curtain: The Extraordinary Story of Citizen Diplomacy on the Russia-Alaska Frontier”, Anchorage, AK

Charles Ray, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia and Zimbabwe

Bill Robinson, William T. Robinson PLLC (International Law), Friday Harbor, WA

Daryl Ross, President, Stradivarius, Board Member, Council for US-Russia Relations, Berkeley, CA

David Rowell, Publisher, “The Travel Insider” and Author, “Mission: St Petersburg”, Redmond, WA

James F. Schumaker, Foreign Service Officer (ret.), U.S. Consul General Vladivostok (2000-2002), Acting Consul General Yekaterinburg (2003), San Clemente, CA

John Simeone, Principal, Simeone Consulting, LLC, Hill, NH

Mark Smith, Chief Strategic Officer, Vitus Energy LLC, Anchorage, AK

Philip C. Sneed, President and CEO, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO

J. Andrew Spindler, President and CEO, Financial Services Volunteer Corps

Bernard Sucher, CEO, TO Group, Miami, FL

Ekaterina Svyatets, Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Stowe Talbot, President, Talbot Investment Company, Seattle, WA

Sharon Tennison, President, Center for Citizen Initiatives, San Mateo, CA

Patrick N. Theros, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to the State of Qatar from 1995 to 1998, General Partner, Theros & Theros

Daniel Treisman, Professor of Political Science, University of California Los Angeles, CA

Theodora Turula, Credit Union Development Consultant, Morton Grove, IL

Anna Vassilieva, Professor and Director, Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA

Alexander Vershbow, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Russia (2001-2005) and South Korea (2005-2008), former Assistant Secretary of Defense (2009-2012), Deputy Secretary General NATO (2012-2016), Philadelphia, PA

Carol Vipperman, Senior Advisor & Program Manager, Jackson Leadership Fellows, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Seattle, WA

Mary Burce Warlick, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to Serbia (2010-12), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia (2008-9), Senior Director for Russia, National Security Council (2007-8)

Ben Warner, Global Operations Integrity Advisor, ExxonMobil, Houston, TX (Former Peace Corps Volunteer in the Russian Far East)

Robin Joy Wellman, Citizen Diplomat, Sister City Lead, Sacramento, CA

Peter Westley, Associate Professor of Fisheries, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

Matthew Wood, National Sales Manager, Furuno USA, Camas, WA

Brandi Worden, U.S. Citizen, Anchorage, AK

Steve Yoshida, Former Rotary District 5010 Governor and Yelizovo, Kamchatka - Homer, Alaska Sister City Association, Homer, AK

Stephen M. Young, U.S. Ambassador (ret.), U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyzstan, Director of the American institute in Taiwan, U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong

Aleksei Zimnitca, Office Manager, Town Moving, Los Angeles, CA

Peter B. Zwack, Brig. General (ret) U.S. Army, Wilson Center Global Fellow, U.S. Defense Attache to Russia, U.S. Embassy Moscow (2012-14) Senior Army Intelligence Officer Europe (2006-08), Newport, RI