Archbishop David Mahaffey of the Orthodox Church in America and the current bishop of Sitka city has expressed opposition to the planned removal of the statue of Alexander Baranov, who was the first Russian governor of Alaska and the founder of Sitka in the late 18th-early 19th century
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) Archbishop David Mahaffey of the Orthodox Church in America and the current bishop of Sitka city has expressed opposition to the planned removal of the statue of Alexander Baranov, who was the first Russian governor of Alaska and the founder of Sitka in the late 18th-early 19th century.
Earlier in July, the Sitka city assembly adopted a resolution to relocate the Baranov statue to the city's Historical Society, which operates the History Museum. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said there are numerous proposals to purchase and transport the Baranov statue to Russia. Antonov said requests to buy the statue have come from the administrations of Arkhangelsk, Irkutsk and Magadan.
"I wish to challenge the idea that the statue of Alexander Baranov should be removed from Sitka ... I feel that removing the statue of the first Russian Governor in Alaska will not change anything and even cause a greater loss of the history of our state. Rather, would it not be better to resolve the issue in another manner? We often forget how the Natives of Alaska were treated by the Russians compared to the way they were treated by the United States authorities following the purchase of Alaska in 1867," Mahaffey said in his article published by Anchorage Daily news.
The archbishop also recalls the positive impact brought by Russia's control over this region and the benefits provided to locals.
"The Russians called these people "Americans," not Natives. They brought them the Christian faith through Russian Orthodoxy. They build schools, hospitals and places of worship and community centers for the betterment of the "Americans." They were protected by Russian law to such a point that if a Native was accused of a major crime, his prosecution was in the hands of a procurator sent from Russia to judge the case, not the local authorities," he said.
Commenting on the proposal to remove the monument, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had also experienced "not the most brilliant period" in its history when monuments of prominent figures were demolished.
Baranov was the first Russian governor of Alaska and the founder of Sitka city, the capital of the Russian colonies in North America, in the late 18th-early 19th century. His statue became an issue of controversy among Sitka activists amid a larger campaign in the US against monuments of Confederate generals, slave-owners and explorers.
