Center for Citizen Initiatives

Bringing Russian and American citizens together in Peace since 1983.

You are here: Home / CCI News

CCI’s 2020 Russia Trip on Hold …

Dear CCI Friends and Recent 2020 Trip Inquirers,

The same week the Coronavirus began flooding the news … we had planned to send CCI’s 2020 Trip announcement to you!

Ambassador Jack Matlock, who plans to Co-Lead this trip, was the first to caution, “We need to hold off on the trip’s September date. It may be later before travel can be contemplated.”

We still don’t have a travel date, but we want to plant the seed for the coming trip in your mind! It may not be safe before June 2021. We are waiting to learn what the experts say. However, this trip to Russia, the most extensive ever, will definitely happen!

We are sending you CCI’s 2020 Trip PR piece (see below). Why? To whet your interest in our next unique trip to Russia. Also, below is our CCI 2020 Application. Feel free to fill it in and send back to us. You will be under no obligation to travel if it doesn’t seem right for you when we set the final date. Currently we have 25 persons who have requested to travel when our expert voices give the “Go” signal. We will begin sending out educational materials along the way.

[Continue Reading]

A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR TO YOU!

Dear Friends of CCI,

We wish you a wonderful New Year in 2020!

Thank you for the year just passing when you have intellectually and spiritually supported CCI’s mission between our two nations, the U.S. and Russia. For you Americans who have provided multiple volunteer services we are so grateful…  and especially those of you who have paid to travel on CCI’s investigative trips to Russia to determine for yourselves, your colleagues and networks, what is currrently happening across Russia and the world (which is not in our mainstream media).

A special acknowledgement to our Russian Experts in Moscow: President Mikhail Gorbachev & Pavel Palazhhchenko, Vladimir Pozner, Vladimir Kozin, Andrey Kortunov, Christopher Weafer, Dmitri Babich, Alexander Korobko, Pavel Velikov,  the OrthoClinic physicians, all of whom have given of their time, shared their points of view and answered the many questions of our traveling Americans.

Deep gratitudes to you Russian citizens who in 2019 hosted unknown Americans in your cities and homes and most importantly helped our U.S. travelers to experience and understand Russian culture, mentality and hospitality. A huge thanks to all of you volunteers in Moscow, Barnaul, Belgorod, Chelyabinsk, Simferopol, Yalta, Sebastapol, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Kungur, Orenburg, Perm, Torzok, Tula, Tver, Ufa and St.Petersburg!

May our 2019 efforts to bring knowledge, understanding, Peace and Goodwill between our leaders begin showing evidences of Hope and Success in the coming year!!!

The warmest of wishes from us to you in 2020!!!

Sharon (signature)

Sharon Tennison
President and Founder (since 1983)
Center for Citizen Initiatives

Reviving the Russian Relationship!

Dear CCI Friends and Readers,

CCI’s September 2019 trip to Russia is covered below by America’s respected think tank and magazine, The National Interest. The article was co-authored by two CCI travelers, Krishen Mehta and Dennis Ortblad. They traveled to Moscow and St.Petersburg in addition to three Crimean cities, during which time fellow CCI delegates were visiting 17 other Russian cities from Kazan to Yakutia in Eastern Russia. Mehta and Ortblad dove into writing to explain their impressions of the “inscrutable Russia” and what they think we Americans should know and do relative to Russia, the other nuclear superpower.

After scanning the article, let us know if you are interested in traveling on CCI’s June 2020 trip which will explore multiple Russian cities and peoples, their histories, points of view, political leanings, hopes and their sense of the state of the world in 2020. We will send you a “no obligation” application.

[Continue Reading]

Russia Redux: A US Army Colonel in Russia’s Far East

By Michael Metz

Ann Wright, retired US Army colonel, retired US diplomat, and all-round extraordinary person, accompanied us on our CCI trip. Ann was one of only three State Department officials to resign in protest over the US invasion of Iraq. She was also a member of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, the group of small boats that attempted to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, in which nine protesters were killed by Israeli forces. I found her an inspiring individual.

[Continue Reading]

Russia Is Not Our Enemy

Dear CCI Followers,

We concluded CCI’s 17-day trip to 21 Russian cities in September. We examined Russia’s current peoples and attitudes, particularly those Russians living outside of Moscow and St.Petersburg. We operated as Citizen Diplomats in each of these Russian cities we visited, since official diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia is now non-existent.

In the beginning, some of our travelers’ attitudes ranged from skeptical of Russia and Putin. Others traveled to judge for themselves what is going on with Russia and Putin. Lastly, there were travelers who considered themselves fairly positive about Russia (but with no validation to speak of).

Delegates were both Democrats and Republicans. There were more males than females in the delegation. The age range was 18 to 83 years (myself). For the most part we remained fairly neutral and supportive of each other. By the trip’s end, we all had a more educated view on where Russia is today … as our CCI videos will testify.

[Continue Reading]

Contact CCI

Contact Us

Join Our Email List

Subscribe