SARASOTA, Fla. — The city of Sarasota has decided to put its 28-year relationship with a Russian city on hold.
During a commission meeting on Monday, the city voted to suspend its sister city relationship "indefinitely" with the Russian city of Vladimir, which is located about 120 miles east of Moscow.
City Commissioner Hagen Brody said the decision sends "a message to those involved that what is happening in Ukraine is not acceptable.”
"We’ve all seen the atrocities in the news over the last several days of what’s happening in Ukraine with Russia’s invasion. That is not a war — that is a slaughter," he said during the meeting.
Brody is the one who originally sent a letter to the Sister City Association asking to end the partnership with Vladimir. In the letter, the commissioner said the decision was fueled by Russia's "unprovoked military invasion" of Ukraine.
"While largely symbolic, this is in line with the international community's movement to isolate Russia at every level. Not to mention, Vladimir, Russia is home to one of three nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile bases, the very weapons their leader is actively threatening western cities with," Brody told 10 Tampa Bay in a previous statement.
Prior to Monday's meeting, the president of the Sister City Association of Sarasota, Mariam Kramer, called cutting ties short-sighted. Kramer said the partnership is about promoting peace and understanding "underneath the government level."
Kramer on Tuesday said the final outcome is not what "we wanted, but it is an outcome we can live it."
"It is better than termination," she said in a statement, in part. "I think the City of Sarasota wanted to send a statement to the Russian government, but also respect that what we do at Sister Cities is connect with citizens, not governments.
"I know it was a very emotional issue for the commissioner who wanted to terminate the relationship. He was very angry. He asked for termination immediately after the war started. Many Sarasota and North Port residents who spoke at the discussion at City Hall spoke with a great deal of emotion.
"It has been hard to see the issue clearly because we are all upset by the images we see right now. I have been spending all my time on this issue, now we at Sister Cities are going to see what we can do to help Ukraine."
During the commission meeting, Brody acknowledged that the Sister City Association's mission and purpose was "a noble one" but added that "there has to be some limit to what we're willing to saddle our city with..."
The city of North Port, which has more than 5,000 Ukrainian-Americans as residents, established a sister city relationship with the city of Truskavets in Ukraine in 2010. However, that relationship has been in limbo after the committee which set it up was dissolved in 2015, according to city officials.