AFPC President Herman Pirchner traveled to Moscow in February 2007 to witness and briefly speak before a meeting of Russia’s Public Chamber. The Public Chamber is a new institution in Russia - a national body created by statue which advises the legislature (State Duma) and President on relevant legislation and monitors the implementation of new laws. The Chamber, whose members serve for unpaid, two-year terms, is composed of respected Russian professionals and academics with no ties to political parties.

From December 3rd to the 10th, 2006, AFPC was pleased to host the Washington visit of world-renowned Russian physicist and civil society advocate Evgeny Velikhov. Velikhov is a national figure in Russia, active in the fields of democracy, the environment and education.

In late February 2006, Valentina Matvienko, Governor of the St. Petersburg oblast, visited Washington, D.C. to discuss matters of cooperation between the Russian and American governments.

In mid-July, DOD Defense Science Board Chairman William Schneider and American Foreign Policy Council President Herman Pirchner, Jr. traveled to Moscow as part of the ongoing Russian-American Dialogue program.

AFPC Senior Associate Wayne Merry participated in a major conference on “Asia-Pacific Realities, Perspectives, Projects: XXI Century” at Russia’s Far Eastern State University in Vladivostok, from November 29^th to the 31^st, 2002.

Since last year’s presidential crisis in Ukraine, the importance of U.S.-Ukrainian relations has taken on a new significance.  Not only is Ukraine delicately balanced between East and West it is also one of the five largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid.  Yet the country is too often considered only in the shadow of her Russian neighbor.

In September 2002, AFPC was pleased to host the Washington meeting of the World Anticrime and Antiterrorism Forum

AFPC was pleased to assist the US Congress-Russian Duma Study Group in hosting a delegation of members of the Russian Duma (lower chamber of parliament). The Honorable Lyubov K. Sliska, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma (the number two position in the Duma), headed the delegation, which visited Washington June 19-20, 2001.

The Duma-Congress Study Group, the formal coordinating body between the Russian Parliament and the US Congress, in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) organized the GPP convention visit of Unity Party parliamentary head Boris Gryzlov.  Unity is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s party.

To intensify and regularize staff exchange work, AFPC organized an April delegation to Moscow of House staffers.  The Honorable Jeff Trandahl, Clerk of the House of Representatives, led the delegation on a reciprocal staff visit.