WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th February, 2021) The very first Russian candidate for New York Mayor Vitaly Filipchenko in an interview with Sputnik expressed willingness to develop ties between New York and cities in his native country.
"I am definitely for it. If anything is done with good will and with the peace prospect, I am all for it," Filipchenko said. "Why should we divide people? We must bring people together."
Filipchenko, who grew up in the city of Tomsk in Siberia, moved to the US a decade ago and is preparing to enter the city's mayoral race as an independent. The general election is schedule for November 2.
Filipchenko said one area of possible US-Russian cooperation is employment amid the increasing automation.
"As great businessmen say, in the future machines and robots will be doing most of the work. We need to solve the problem not at the country level, but at the global level, because we need to decide what people will do," he said. "The population is increasing, and automation goes faster and faster. We must already begin to consider that problem now at the level including at the level of sister cities."
Moreover, the mayoral candidate noted, twin cities could contribute to solving environmental problems.
Filipchenko came to the United States on a tourist visa. When it was about to expire, he was looking for ways to officially extend it but by a happy coincidence, he met an American woman at his friend's wedding, and the two fell in love with each other. Filipchenko and his wife have now been happily married for 12 years.
Filipchenko owns a small business - a moving services company in New York. He has been actively involved in the community life: has been attending community meetings and also volunteered for the Auxiliary New York Police Department.
