Lately it has become fashionable to politicize anything. Sports, movies, music, and even the fine arts. The trend has even reached the relationship between municipalities. The twin cities, if they don't break off relations, at least put them on pause. This is in the West, but what is going on in the East, in the countries of the world majority?
Read about this and Rossotrudnichestvo's plans in our longread. Russian homes outside of politics.
Twin cities in new geopolitical realities
Coordination of relationships between twinned cities is one of the priorities of WARMCU[1] partner Rossotrudnichestvo. It has become especially important in modern conditions, when a number of countries pursue a policy of confrontation with Russia at the interstate level, as well as an unprecedented information pressure on our country and the so-called "hybrid war".
The first twins
In the system of international relations twinning emerged during the Great Patriotic War and was given impetus to develop after it ended. The beginning of the twinned cities movement was the agreement on friendship and cooperation, signed in 1944 between the cities of Stalingrad and English Coventry, destroyed during the Second World War.
Today more than 300 Russian cities-heroes and cities of military glory have twin-cities with similar fates. During the Soviet period, the twin movement became a truly mass one. It included programs of school and student exchanges, acquainting citizens with the achievements of the culture of their twin cities.
Test of friendship
The Special Military Operation is transforming diplomatic and pro-diplomatic relations between the countries, also affecting the area of twinning.
A number of cities from countries recognized by the Russian Federation as unfriendly, including the Baltic States, Finland, and Great Britain, suspended or terminated their participation in twinning programs in 2022. Tallinn and Helsinki suspended relations with Moscow, and Oxford terminated ties with Perm.
On the contrary, the cities of China, India, Belarus, Mongolia and other countries with which Russia has friendly or equal partner relations, express the intention to further develop cooperation between the twin cities.
The West does not cross
Last April the International Sister Cities Association, based in the U.S. and uniting 70 Russian and American cities, also urged its members not to break off relations with each other. However, by that time the governors of Maryland and Iowa had already suspended their sister-cities relations with the Russian regions.
It is symbolic that the municipal council of the British city of Coventry, with which the history of twinning began, at the end of March last year also announced that it was suspending ties with its oldest twin - now Volgograd.
Equal partners
Clearly, the challenges that Russia faces after February 24, 2022, clearly highlighted states that are hostile to Russia, against which attempts by Russia to use any soft power, including those broadcast through public channels such as twinning, are difficult.
Under these conditions, resources and attention should be shifted to "hesitant countries," states with a balanced position, and countries that are reliable and well-established economic and political partners for Russia.
Among them are cities of the People's Republic of China and other BRICS countries, the Middle East, as well as many post-Soviet countries. Work is already underway to establish twinning relations with them.
The backbone of diplomacy
Rossotrudnichestvo has the task to help create favorable conditions for the establishment and development of international and foreign economic relations by Russian regions in the interests of their socio-economic development while ensuring a unified foreign policy, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia.
And also contribute to the development of cross-border cooperation at the regional and municipal levels, using the established ties as a tool to form a belt of good-neighborliness along the perimeter of our borders.
It is important to note that established twinning ties do not replace traditional diplomacy, but help at the municipal and regional levels to prepare the ground for the successful implementation of official activities in the field of foreign policy interaction.
In this regard, Rossotrudnichestvo will continue to promote a positive agenda of international municipal cooperation, to work for the formation of honest, equal and mutually beneficial interpersonal contacts.
Twins from the Celestial Empire
As Rossotrudnichestvo advises, some Russian cities have turned their attention to China. And there are already some results.
On January 12 Mytishchi, city near Moscow, signed an agreement on twinning relations with Dezhou, Shandong Province, China. They plan to cooperate in agriculture, processing industry, trade, science, culture, education and healthcare.
This agreement was a logical continuation of the memorandum of cooperation between Shandong Province and the Moscow region, signed in July last year.
Three more inter-municipal agreements are expected to be signed by the end of the year. As a result, Kashira and Shouguang, Sergiev Posad and Weihai, Stupino and Qingdao will also become twin cities.
Krasnodar also expands ties with the cities of the Celestial Empire. It has been twinned with Harbin for 14 years. In 2021, the Krasnodar authorities signed a memorandum of intent to develop relations with Jinhua, in September 2022 - a memorandum of cooperation with Dujiangyan, and in November signed a memorandum of intent to establish twinning relations with Shijiazhuang.
Betting on BRICS
The southern capital of Russia, Rostov-on-Don, is also interested in twinning with Chinese cities. Other cities in the BRICS alliance states of Brazil, India and South Africa are also seen as potential partners.
For example, at the IV International Municipal Forum of the BRICS+ countries, which was held last fall in St. Petersburg, the Rostov delegation has already managed to establish contacts with the coordinator of the BRICS Research Center at the University of Sao-Paulo.
Last December Veliky Novgorod and the capital of the Indian state of Kerala Trivandrum agreed to become sister cities. The agreement is planned to be signed during the return visit of the Indian delegation to Veliky Novgorod.
Potential new members of the BRICS alliance are expected to join the list of twin cities in Russia. The Algerian authorities have announced their intention to sign a document on twinning with Moscow. At the same time, Algeria is preparing a project of partnership with St. Petersburg, between their two polytechnic universities.
Legacy of the USSR
Russian cities are actively developing twinning relations in the former Soviet Union. For example, last summer Omsk and the Belarusian city of Mogilev became twin cities. It is expected that soon two more agreements will be signed: with the Belarusian capital Minsk and the city of Gomel. Omsk established partner relations with them back in 2013.
The authorities of Astrakhan signed memorandums with two cities of Kazakhstan on the establishment of twinning relations. This happened at the XVIII Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan, which was held in November last year in Orenburg. Atyrau and Aktau became new twins of Astrakhan.
After 26 years of partnership, Ekaterinburg and the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, officially became twinned at the end of last year. The agreement was signed at the Bishkek Investment Summit.
Last year two Russian cities became twinned with Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia. In summer Gyumri and Tver signed a corresponding agreement, and in December Gyumri and Vologda officially formalized their twinning relations.
Article published in the WARMSU Municipal Bulletin.
[1] The All-Russian Association for the Development of Local Self-Government (VARMSU) was established in 2019.
At present, WARMSU unites 85 regional associations - the Councils of Municipalities of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The founders of the association are large and authoritative public organizations of Russia, including the All-Russian Congress of Municipal Entities, the All-Russian Council of Local Self-Government, the Union of Russian Cities, the International Assembly of Capitals and Major Cities, the Russian Province Association for the Development of Historical Settlements, the Association of Closed Administrative-Territorial Entities of Nuclear Industry, the Association of Cities of the Volga Region, the Union of Cities of Central and Northwestern Russia.
The activities of the Association are aimed at uniting the municipal community of the country and working out a consolidated municipal agenda.
WARMSU is the initiator of many projects, including the Municipal Dialogue marathon (initiative development of local self-government municipaldialog.rf) aimed at sharing experience and developing jointly management solutions for replicating best practices in municipalities.
The co-chairmen of WARMSU are Russian Senator Andrey Anatolievich Shevchenko, Irina Mikhailovna Guseva, and the head of Tyumen Ruslan Kukharuk. The executive director of WARMSU is Ivan Nikolaevich Tetsersky.