Dagur B. Eggertsson, Mayor of Reykjavík, said in an interview with Visir.is that it’s possible that the city will cut all diplomatic ties with Moscow, but the cities are so-called “friend cities”.
Dagur says that there hasn’t though been much communication between the cities for years.
The city of Århus in Denmark as well as Ålborg have already announced that they have cut off all diplomatic communication with the city and it’s likely that more Scandinavian cities will follow.
Dagur says in the interview that he has sent the mayor of Moscow strongly worded objections of the Russian war against Ukraine and that the city council is watching closely the reaction of other cities in Europe when it comes to political communications with towns and cities in Russia.
This decision comes nine years after former mayor, Jón Gnarr, reviewed the relationship between the cities because of Moscow’s stand when it came to human rights for LBTQ+ people in the city. Which explains why there hasn’t been much communication between the cities in past years.
Dagur will have a meeting with other mayors in the Nordic countries next week, where the war will be the main topic.
Also, the city council agreed to discuss further the proposal of changing Garðarstræti’s name to Kænugarðssgata, or Kyiv Street. The Russian embassy/residence is on that street. The council also agreed to look into the possibility to rename a square close by for symbolic reasons to show the Ukrainian nation support.
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