Mayor de Blasio on Wednesday night promised to be “focused” on the Russian community — unlike his predecessors — while honoring some of its members at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“This community needs to know that the city government is focused on them, and that hasn’t always been the case in the past, but we’re trying hard to change that,” de Blasio said during his keynote speech at the 12th Annual Russian Heritage Month.
Hizzoner also took to the podium to highlight some of his hot button initiatives, including Pre-K, after school programs and affordable housing.
“We’re focusing on making sure the people of the Russian speaking community have full opportunity [in these programs], and part of that is translating everything into Russian, which helps a lot,” de Blasio said.
While awarding the honorees, The Mayor singled out The Russian American Officers Association represented by President Michael Belogorodsky and Vice President Dmitriy Zabrovskiy.
“I will have to single out the Russian American law enforcement officers. We are so proud of them. They are pioneers in law enforcement,” de Blasio said.
Other Russian honorees included internationally acclaimed sculptor Boaz Vaadia, ballet dancer David Hallberg and Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Kairat Umarov.