Visit to Pskov: People to People Contact in Difficult Times

The city of Pskov, which lies some 300kms south of St Petersburg, lost nine of its citizens when the Russian aircraft crashed in Egypt on 31 October. The flight had taken off from Sharm el-Sheikh earlier that morning en route to St Petersburg. All 224 passengers and crew on board the flight were killed.

This tragedy has had a major impact on North West Russia. The majority of the passengers were from St Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast. The scenes at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport having been very moving. The Prime Minister called President Putin to offer his condolences and the Foreign Secretary spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. I signed the official condolence book here in St Petersburg on 2 November.

I visited Pskov on 3 November and offered my condolences to Mayor Tsetsersky and his colleagues. I knew this was a terribly difficult time for the city and our thoughts were with the victims and their families, friends and colleagues. The Deputy Mayor of Pskov, Alexander Kopylov, and another employee of the city administration were among those killed in the crash. Mayor Tsetsersky said he was very grateful for all of the warm expressions of sympathy and support. This had been a terrible tragedy for Russia and had hit the small city of Pskov very hard. It would take time for them to recover. I laid flowers at a small memorial to the Deputy Mayor and their other colleague in the entrance hall of the administration building. There were a number of other memorials to the victims around town, including at the entrance to the old Kremlin. People had left photos of the victims, flowers and soft toys.

Mayor Tsetserkey and I spoke about the importance of people to people contacts at this difficult time. Pskov would continue to develop its cultural and people links through its partner cities, including Perth in Scotland. Pskov looked forward to celebrating the 25^th anniversary of its twinning relationship with Perth. Pskov would also host the annual International Hanseatic Days in 2019. I said I looked forward to doing what I could to support the Pskov/Perth partnership.

This is a very difficult time for the small, historical city of Pskov and indeed for the rest of North West Russia. People to people contact and support, such as that from Perth in Scotland, are very important and valued. We will continue to give priority to supporting these many positive initiatives and partnerships.