OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday voted to approve an amended resolution to partially suspend official government ties with its Russian sister city, Obninsk.
The substitute motion was approved unanimously Monday evening, which will suspend government actions with the sister city amid the Ukraine war, but allow the program to continue so organizations in Oak Ridge can maintain long-held ties dating back to the end of the Cold War.
“Even though I fully, fully oppose the language in this resolution, this is not a time for conflict and disunity," Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch said before “very reluctantly" voting aye with the rest of the council.
Councilmembers said they did not agree with Russia's war with Ukraine and were "horrified by the atrocities committed by the government," but said the purpose of the sister city program was about supporting the people of the two cities rather than the actions of governments.
"I think this is an extremely important program to continue," councilmember Rick Chinn said. "I would hate for us to extinguish this program with Russia, because this is a people-to-people exchange and not a government-to-government exchange."
The Oak Ridge Sister City Support Organization asked the council not to dissolve the relationship.
"We have established relationships with the citizens of Obninsk, not Mr. Putin," the letter said.
Jerry Luckmann and Dr. Ken Luckmann run the Oak Ridge Support Organization for Sister Cities International. The Luckmanns said the sister city relationship creates benefits for both parties.
Dr. Luckmann said he took a group of Russian physicians to Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge.
"They took all that information back with them to Obninsk and went ahead and set up the first private practice of medicine in that city," Dr. Luckmann said.
The Luckmanns hosted students from Obninsk in their house. One of them learned 'Tennessee English' and lost his tooth at their house.
"The bonds that we've established with friends in Obninsk need to remain intact," Dr. Luckmann said.
"What their government does can be embarrassing to them as some of the things that our government has done have been embarrassing to us," said Luckmann.
City Councilwoman Ellen Smith proposed changing the resolution to allow the sister city relationship to continue without the city's involvement.
In the original resolution proposed by City Manager Mark Watson, the City of Oak Ridge would "staunchly and vehemently denounce the death, devastation and atrocities committed by the Russian Government."
"The city manager acknowledges this action is in direct opposition to the values of Sister Cities International, but in the interest of human dignity and freedom, a continued sister city relationship with our Russian city partners is not appropriate and hypocritical," the resolution added.