Maj. Gen. Philip Oates, Alaska Adjutant General, presents the Alaska Legion of Merit to Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Ivanovich Puzanov, head of the Russian Federation’s Federal Directorate of Air and Space Search and Rescue Forces for his strong support for multilateral SAR cooperation.

Col. Valeriy Germanovich Stepanov, Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Directorate of Air and Space Search and Rescue Forces and a Russian Air Force officer, did not need an interpreter to express his sympathy for the American people two days after terrorists struck New York City and Washington, D.C., from the sky last September. Col. Stepanov said it with his eyes on a rainy, remote Alaskan plain amid the Chugach Mountain Range near Anchorage. "I am sorry for what has happened to your country," he said softly, with a look that reflected his own sense of horror about the terrorist attacks.

Col. Stepanov expressed his sentiments during a poignant moment in a military training exercise overshadowed by the events of 11 September. His remarks reflect the same sentiments that other Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, have expressed to American friends and colleagues many times since then, demonstrating how close Americans and Russians have become.