Exeter asked to suspend link with Russian twin city

Exeter is to be asked to suspend its link with its Russian twin.

The Devon city has been twinned with Yaroslavl, about 160 miles (260km) north-east of Moscow, since 1990.

City council leader Phil Bialyk, who has family in Ukraine and organised a support vigil at the weekend, is to ask a full council meeting on 10 March to suspend the civic relationship.

The move is a turnaround after the city previously said the relationship would not change.

The link with the Russian city, home to more than 500,000 people, usually included exchange trips usually held every other year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council said last week there were "currently no plans to alter Exeter's twinning link with Yaroslavl" after the Russian invasion.

But Mr Bialyk told an executive meeting of the authority on Monday he felt the city's position should change, after having "thought long and hard about this".

He said: "I cannot condone the actions of the Russian government."

While Exeter may be pausing its link, Plymouth City Council said last week it was not breaking off ties with Novorossiysk, the Russian port city on the Black Sea, which it has had a relationship with since 1990.

The Plymouth authority said breaking off links would send the wrong message. 

It said: "We have no immediate plans to rescind our friendship with the people of Novorossiysk, our twin city, and punish them for the barbaric actions of their government."

However, buildings in Plymouth, including the Theatre Royal and Smeaton's Tower lighthouse on the Hoe seafront, were illuminated on Thursday.

The action was carried out after councillors asked for the tower to be lit to express "solidarity" with the Ukrainian people after the invasion.

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