Congressionally Funded Week-Long Tour Includes Visits with Washington State Officials 

(Washington, DC) – Next week, the Government Accountability Project is hosting four prominent Russian environmentalists on a week-long visit to Washington state that will include numerous meetings with state officials and a tour of Hanford’s bulk vitrification test site. The group will be in the state from Sunday, December 4 through Saturday, December 10.

The delegation is part of the Open World Leadership Program, a congressionally funded initiative designed to bring federal and local Russian political leaders to the United States, meet with their counterparts, and gain firsthand knowledge of how American civil society works.

The delegates will meet with government officials, including: Elliot Marks, Governor Gregoire’s Natural Resource Policy Advisor; Secretary of State Sam Reed; and representatives from Senator Maria Cantwell’s office. On Thursday, December 8, the group will visit the Yakama Native American Reservation at 3:00 pm, and later meet in Richland, WA at 7:00 pm with several Hanford whistleblowers to share difficulties of publicly speaking about nuclear concerns. On the next morning of Friday, December 9, the group will meet at 9:00am with Roy Gephart of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory regarding nuclear clean-up strategies, followed by the bulk vitrification site tour at 11:00 am.

Each delegate was chosen based on their work on environmental and nuclear issues:

  • Gosman Kabirov, from Chelyabinsk, works to promote the rights of nuclear-exposed victims of the nearby Mayak nuclear facility. He is the chairman of Techa, an ecological non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Chelyabinsk, infamous for being the most toxic area of the world.
  • Igor Mushtak works as program coordinator of the Ural Ecological Union, an NGO promoting nuclear and radiation safety and sustainable energy strategies.
  • Pavel Sermin is an environmental activist working with Eco Protection, an NGO focusing on energy conservation and cleaner alternatives to nuclear power.
  • Polina Shulbayeva is Director of Information and Legal Services for Kolta Cup, an organization based in the northern Tomsk Region that works with natives and ethnic minorities on knowing and obtaining their land rights and promoting development of traditional nature management and sustainable development.

GAP was chosen to host this delegation due to its work with those affected by nuclear facilities in both the United States and Russia. GAP Nuclear Oversight Program Director Tom Carpenter stated “We look forward to sharing American environmental and nuclear concerns and solutions with the delegates, as well as gain more insight on the Russian experience regarding these issues. This is an exciting opportunity to build relationships and cultivate ideas to make the world safer.”