Alaskan City's Decision To Relocate Baranov Statue 'Opens Pandora's Box' - Russian NGO

Alaskan City's Decision to Relocate Baranov Statue 'Opens Pandora's Box' - Russian NGO

The Sitka assembly's decision to relocate city founder Alexander Baranov's statue may have opened the door to similar moves across Alaska, Russian Community Council of the USA (RCC) Chairperson Elena Branson told Sputnik on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2020) The Sitka assembly's decision to relocate city founder Alexander Baranov's statue may have opened the door to similar moves across Alaska, Russian Community Council of the USA (RCC) Chairperson Elena Branson told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Late Tuesday, the city assembly adopted a resolution to relocate the Baranov statue to the Sitka Historical Society Museum. In 1799, Baranov founded Sitka (then called Novo-Archangelsk) as the capital of the Russian colonies in North America.

"We think that the Baranov statue relocation opens a 'Pandora's box' and could lead to further renaming of streets, islands, boulevards and other place-names in Alaska," Branson said. "We are worried that Sitka's authorities made this step on the wave of protest events in the US without inviting our representatives."

The Russian community is also dismayed, Branson added, that the Assembly made its "rapid-fire" decision without broad discussion.

However, she also applauded their decision to move the statue to a museum rather than destroy it.

In the resolution, the assembly recognized that Baranov as director of the Russia-American Fur Company left an "indelible mark" on the history of Sitka. However, the resolution also claimed Baranov was involved in abuses of indigenous people justified under a theory of racial and cultural superiority.

In late June, a group of activists urged Sitka authorities to remove the statue, citing mistreatment of indigenous people.

Statues of several historical figures associated with racism have been removed, toppled or defaced across the United States amid nationwide protests fueled by multiple police-involved killings of Black men.