Palin's foreign negotiations limited to Canada

By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP National Writer


Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who touts her state's proximity to Russia as
part of her foreign policy experience, has not met with Russian leaders
or delegations, negotiated any Russian issues or visited the country,
according to an Associated Press review of records from the governor's
office.

The review showed that the Republican vice presidential candidate has
negotiated with only one country, Canada, and until last week had met
with the leader of only one other, tiny Iceland. Her portfolio expanded
last week when she went to New York and met seven foreign leaders
attending the U.N. General Assembly.

Governors who run for national office often are criticized for lacking
the international experience that, for example, someone from Congress or
the president's Cabinet might have. But Palin's foreign policy adviser
Steve Biegun, on leave as vice president of international governmental
affairs for Ford Motor Co., said that's not a handicap.

"And what Governor Palin has is a full breadth of international
experience that any governor would have who is engaged with the world on
trade, on infrastructure issues," he said. "Governors don't have the
same opportunities or the same responsibilities that senators have.
They're different, but they're not inferior."

Palin herself has said repeatedly that her job is inherently
international because of Alaska's location, across the Bering Strait
from Russia.

In an interview last week with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, Palin
suggested that her contact was more than just awareness of Russia's
nearness. When Couric asked Palin if she'd "ever been involved with any
negotiations, for example, with the Russians," the governor replied, "We
have trade missions back and forth."

But Steve Smirnoff, the Russian Federation's honorary consul in
Anchorage, said Palin never accepted his invitation to open a dialogue
with Alaska's neighbor.

When Palin took office in December 2006, Smirnoff says, he sent her a
letter suggesting "she could be instrumental in reviving relationships
between Alaska and Russia, and the rest of the world."

Smirnoff said he'd met Palin years before, when they both worked on
then-Gov. Frank Murkowski's campaign. Smirnoff had hoped for some
rapport, but "I never received a response," he said. "I don't know if it
was taken to heart or thrown in the trash basket."

Patricia Eckert, who works in the governor's Office of International
Trade, confirmed that Palin had not held meetings with Russian officials
during her term. The closest interaction she cited was when the
Seattle-based Russian consul general attended a reception for the
diplomatic corps that Palin hosted in Fairbanks.

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