Four foreign cities refuse invitations to Khabarovsk

Delegations from four foreign cities have refused to attend the celebration of Khabarovsk's 145th anniversary on May 31 because of the danger of atypical pneumonia, a source in the Mayor's Office of Khabarovsk, a large city in the Russian Far East, told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

The municipalities of two of Khabarovsk's Chinese sister-cities, Harbin and Guangzhou, sent messages saying they could not accept the invitation because of the danger of atypical pneumonia and the measures taken against the disease.

The same reason was cited by the authorities of Portland, Khabarovsk's sister-city in the USA. The Mayor of yet another of its sister-cities, Victoria /Canada/, postponed the visit until next year without giving any reasons.

According to RIA Novosti's source, invitations were accepted by delegations from Niigata, Japan and Buchon, South Korea.