RENO, Nev. - President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called out several American cities for having sister cities in Russia during a video address to the United States Conference of Mayors meeting on Friday.
He spoke to the gathering of mayors just after Vice President Kamala Harris, criticized Chicago; Jacksonville, Fla. Portland, Ore. San Diego and San Jose, Calif. for maintaining sister-city ties in Russia. He said that relationships should be severed.
He said there was hardly nothing. They allow Russia to say that it is not isolated. Chicago has been in place since 1997 and has been in place since this year, but it is not permanently ending its sister-city relationship with Moscow. Local outlets in San Jose reported earlier this year that city leaders decided to maintain a sister-city relationship with Ekaterinburg, Russia. As of Friday, websites for the sister-city programs in Jacksonville, San Diego and Portland continued to list Russian partners.