Alaska exported $8 million in seafood and machinery to Russia in 2005; up 8 percent from the previous year. Seafood sales increased to $5 million from $3 million in 2004.

Alaska’s oilfield service and support companies continue to find business opportunities and success in the Sakhalin oil developments. Alaska’s experienced companies will likely continue to contribute to projects in the Russian Far East as that area explores and develops its oil and gas reserves.

Alaska’s ties to Russia go beyond export of goods and services and include educational, scientific and cultural exchanges.

Governor Frank H. Murkowski met with the first President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, in Anchorage in August 2005 to discuss a wide range of topics. A highlight of their meeting was discussion about the Governor’s vision of a future rail link from Alaska to Russia.

Russian officials are interested in Alaska’s economic development models. In 2005 and 2006 the Russian Federation’s State Duma and its Council of Federation both sent committees for northern issues to Alaska. The committees met with state officials, native corporations, economists, and other experts at organizations like UAA Institute of Social & Economic Research and the Permanent Fund Corporation. Mr. Stanislav Eliseykin, a Duma representative and first deputy chairman of the Duma’s Committee for Issues of the North and Far East, led the 2005 delegation. Mr. Sergey Matveev, a Council of Federation representative and first deputy chairman of the Council’s Committee on Issues of the Northern Territories and Indigenous Minorities, led the 2006 delegation.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s 17th District and the Russian Federal Security’s North-Eastern Coast Guard Department cooperate closely in observing and protecting marine resources in the North Pacific Ocean since 1992. Their cooperation promotes safe and legal operations in convention areas and their regular exchanges on fisheries related situations are part of successful management of the North Pacific and Bering Sea.

The Institute of the North, an educational and research non-profit organization in Anchorage worked on several projects during 2005 that focused on Russia. See http://www.institutenorth.org for more information. Former Alaska Governor Walter J, Hickel and founder of the Institute, lead a one-day symposium in Moscow comprised of Russian economists and scholars discussing the Russian edition of the Governor’s book Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution. In October 2005, the Institute convened 60 international Arctic aviation experts from Russia, Canada and Alaska in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia to discuss challenges and opportunities within the North. In December, the Institute released an economic study showing potential for a new air route between Alberta, Canada, through Anchorage, Alaska, to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the Russian Far East. Also in 2005, the Institute began a feasibility study for the U.S. Department of Energy to host an international Arctic Energy Summit in Anchorage in conjunction with the International Polar Year (2007-2008).

Cultural and educational programs within Alaska reflect Russian ties. Performing organizations like the Anchorage-based Russian American Colony Singers and the Sitka New Archangel Dancers remind audiences of Russian influence in the state’s history. In May 2005, Alaskan educators at Turnagain Elementary School in Anchorage concluded the first year of the United States’ only Russian immersion elementary school program. In July 2005 a Russian Orthodox Museum opened in Anchorage. At the University of Alaska Anchorage, more than 100 students from Russia comprise the largest Russian undergraduate population of any university in the United States.