Collective appeal to President Obama to make August 22 Russian-American Freedom Day

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013
From: Dmitri Daniel Glinski <dmitri@rccmb.org>
Subject: Collective appeal to President Obama to make August 22  Russian-American Freedom Day

We hope the attached letter signed by 4 Russian-American organizations and 2 Russian-American elected officials will be of interest to your readers.  It was sent out this morning and is also on our website, http://amrusrights.wordpress.com, with our press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On August 22, 2013, four nonprofit organizations of Russian-speaking Americans and two Russian-American elected government officials sent their joint appeal to President Barack Obama, asking him to mark the anniversary of the defeat of the military coup in Moscow of August 19-22, 1991, by issuing a proclamation recognizing August 22nd ­ the day of the restoration of legitimate authorities to power with support of Russians and other citizens who went into the streets of Moscow and other major cities ­ as a nationally observed Russian-American Freedom Day.

The letter says, in particular:

“In spite of the widespread and profound disillusionments with the subsequent course of events, the defeat of the 1991 coup is widely acknowledged as the peak of Russian people’s power and the most compelling demonstration of their willingness and ability to defend their democratic freedoms when push comes to shove.

“August 22, 1991, was also the moment of the greatest opportunity, in Russia’s recent history as well as in Russian-American relations.  … Recognizing August 22nd as the national Russian-American Freedom Day would send a powerful message of respect and encouragement to the Russian-American community and other Americans from countries of the former Soviet Union.  It would also be widely welcomed as a timely reminder of the best moments of courage and hope in the history of the Russian people as well as in Russian-American relations.”