Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced on Monday that he had moved to end a sister-state relationship between St. Petersburg and Maryland, in protest of the invasion of Ukraine.
Hogan said in a letter directed to Aleksandr Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad Region, that Maryland would be moving to “terminate” a sister-state relationship formed in 1993 between the two, adding that the goal of the partnership is “to promote peace and prosperity.”
“Having witnessed the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, I am obliged to immediately dissolve and terminate Maryland’s partnership with the Leningrad Region,” Hogan wrote in the letter.
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The Leningrad Region and Maryland formed a sister-state relationship in 1993 which encouraged and promoted “opportunities” relating to topics such as culture, education, agriculture, or even technology, according to the Maryland Sister States website.
Hogan mentioned in a tweet on Monday that he had instructed the office of the Maryland Secretary of State John Wobensmith to move toward terminating the relationship over the weekend.
“I also directed state agencies to review contracts, procurements, and holdings that may have ties to Russian entities,” Hogan said in his tweet.
Over the weekend, I directed @SOSMaryland to terminate our sister state relationship with the Leningrad Region.
I also directed state agencies to review contracts, procurements, and holdings that may have ties to Russian entities.
Read the letter: https://t.co/bTnbsJir3s pic.twitter.com/0PF7FuMOGI
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) February 28, 2022
Hogan’s announcement of the ending of the sister-state relationship with the Russian city comes the same day that Maryland Democratic Sen. Bill Ferguson said that he was going to introduce legislation calling for the dissolving of the partnership.
“Our issue is not with the people of Russia, but Maryland must not legitimize its government. Diplomacy and soft power are vital, and relations should be resumed when Russian aggression ceases,” Ferguson said in a Twitter thread. “Until then, we must send a clear message that we stand with Ukraine.”
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President Joe Biden revealed during a press conference on Thursday that the United States would be striking Russia with more sanctions in light of the full-scale invasion launched on the neighboring country of Ukraine.
“We’ve now sanctioned Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion in assets. We’ve cut off Russia’s largest bank, a bank that holds more than one-third of Russia’s banking assets by itself. We’ve cut it off from the U.S. financial system,” said Biden. “And today, we’re also blocking four more major banks. That means every asset they have in America will be frozen. This includes VTB, the second-largest bank in Russia, which has $250 billion in assets.”
The Biden administration said on Friday that it would be joining several European allies in imposing direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and top officials from his national security team.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Hogan for a statement but did not immediately receive a response back.
