WHEREAS, History was made on the morning of June 20, 1937, with the landing of Russian aviator, Valery Chkalov, and his crew, Georgy Baidukov and Alexander Belyakov, in their single engine aircraft, ANT-25, at Pearson Army Airfield in Vancouver, Washington; and
     WHEREAS, Chkalov completed the first nonstop flight across the North Pole setting a world aviation record by flying for 63 hours and 16 minutes over the North Pole from Schelkovo Air Field near Moscow, Russia to Pearson Army Airfield in Vancouver, Washington; and
     WHEREAS, The Russian Federation and many individual Russians have responded with friendship to this expression of international goodwill by visiting the City of Vancouver to lay flowers at the monument, and by hosting groups from Vancouver in Russia; and
     WHEREAS, June 20, 2012, is the 75th anniversary of the Transpolar Flight, and official Russian government sponsored events honoring this historic flight are being held in Russia; and
     WHEREAS, The Chkalov Cultural Exchange Committee, a nonprofit organization in the State of Washington, along with the State of Washington, City of Vancouver, Clark County, and other governmental entities and officials are planning events and activities during 2012 in Washington State and the Vancouver-Portland area, including an invited delegation from Russia;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State Senate acknowledge this historic flight, call upon the citizens of the State of Washington to join the citizens of Russia in celebrating the 75th anniversary, extend a warm welcome to all Russian visitors who travel to Vancouver to participate in these events, and encourage all Washington citizens to participate; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, United States Commerce Secretary, John Bryson, the Valery P. Chkalov Cultural Exchange Committee, Fort Vancouver National Trust, Russian Federation President, Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Federation Minister of Industry and Trade and Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 75th Anniversary Transpolar Flight Celebrations, Viktor Khristenko, and President of the International Chkalov Foundation, Valery I. Chkalov.