Edmond celebrates bond with new sister city in Russia

Edmond Mayor Charles Lamb and Sergey E. Gorevskiy, mayor of Engels, in Russia, shook hands after a ceremony Monday during a visit to Edmond by a nine-member Russian delegation.

This is the first time Edmond has had a sister city.

“When you find friends in a different place, it is very important,” Gorevskiy said with the assistance of an interpreter. “It is great.”

Gorevskiy is making his second visit to Edmond.

Engels, with a population of about 300,000 people, was founded by Ukrainian settlers and was settled by Germans during the reign of Catherine the Great. It is now a major center of Volga German culture.

Edmond has 83,019 people.

Thirteen community agencies and institutions have been working for four years to become a sister city for a cultural, educational and medical exchange.