2009/04/01 DCM Eric Rubin visits students and religious leaders
During his first visit to Yekaterinburg on March 31, 2009 DCM Eric Rubin paid a visit to one of the major Orthodox pilgrimage sites in Russia – the Cathedral on the Blood in Yekaterinburg. The Cathedral was built in 2003 on the place of the Ipatyev’s house, where the last Russian Tsar Nicolas II and his family were assassinated by Bolsheviks in July 1918. DCM Rubin toured the Cathedral accompanied by the highly experienced guide Irina Tveryakova, who told the American diplomat the dramatic story of the last days of the Russian royal family and the history of the Cathedral.
On April 1, 2009, DCM Eric Rubin and Consul General Tim Sandusky visited the Urals State University n.a. Gorky and met with students of the Faculty of International Relations. DCM Rubin briefed the future diplomats on the current status of the U.S.-Russian relations and its perspectives. Then he answered numerous questions from the audience concerning nonproliferation programs, nuclear weapons reduction programs, the changing roles of G8 and G20, the increasing influence of non-governmental actors in the international relations, the joint efforts on stabilizing the world financial system, the rapid change of the world system structure. Some of the questions that might have sounded exotic in the near past, currently they are becoming quite actual, such as the competition and cooperation in the Arctic or U.S.-Russian cooperation in the space programs (mission Mars). The level of knowledge and interest shown by the second year students of the Urals State University highly impressed the U.S. diplomats.
Later the DCM visited the Yekaterinburg Jewish Center and Synagogue and received an extensive tour of the facilities from Rabbi Ashkenazi. The DCM was impressed with the facilities and ties with the US enjoyed by the Center. The DCM finished his tour of Yekaterinburg with a visit to the Central Mosque and met with Mufti Hazrat Sibagatulla Hadji to talk over US-Muslim relations.