Russian flag brought down on Rochester bridge

A Russian flag on Rochester's Sister Cities Pedestrian Bridge was no longer flying Thursday.

The flag represents the city of Veliky Novgorod, one of Rochester's 12 sister cities. A photograph taken Thursday afternoon showed it on the ground, and city of Rochester spokeswoman Jessica Alaimo said it apparently was stolen sometime Thursday night.

It's unclear whether someone brought it down intentionally, but none of the other flags on the bridge were disturbed.

Rochester and Veliky Novgorod, a city of 200,000 between Moscow and St. Petersburg, have been sister cities since 1990. There have been a number of citizen and cultural exchange programs between the two cities, including a Russian Friendship Concert last week.

In general, the Sister Cities program's purpose is to encourage person-to-person interaction across national boundaries. Those relationships have generally persevered through geopolitical tribulations in the past — such as in 2014 when there were calls to break the Russian relationship over the treatment of the LGBTQ community in Russia — since they are not political in nature.

"Sister Cities relationships kind of transcend politics in favor of person-to-person contacts," said Paul Caccamise, chairman of the Rochester-Veliky Novgorod Sister Cities committee. "It doesn't mean we endorse any national policies — in either direction."

American relations with Russia have been a subject of intense interest lately due to allegations and unanswered questions about President-elect Donald Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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