American press about Hillary Clinton’s to Kazan, Tatarstan

US Secretary of State visited the Republic of Tatarstan capital Kazan on October 14. She got acquainted with Kazan Kremlin sights, held a one-to-one meeting with Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev, talked to students, faculty of Kazan State University and representatives of local confessions.

A group of American journalists arrived in Kazan with Hillary Clinton.

At the airport Clinton was welcomed by women dressed in traditional costumes who presented her with a mound of chak- chak, a local dessert, Bloomberg informs.

Clinton is the first secretary of state ever to visit Kazan, which bills itself as Russia's third capital, and capital of religiously and ethnically diverse republic Tatarstan, an oil-rich moderate Muslim-majority republic that is often hailed as a model of multicultural tolerance, Chicago Tribune points out.

The trip to Kazan took place on the second day of her state visit to Russia, which was a part of US Secretary of State’s European tour. Clinton devoted the second day of her Russia visit to events with ordinary citizens; she met with Moscow State University Students. Clinton later flew east of the country to meet one of United Russia's leaders, Tatarstan Governor Mintimer Shaimiev. Dressed in a yellow headscarf, she toured a mosque and a Russian Orthodox cathedral in the mainly Muslim region, New York Times reports.

"I appreciate the outreach you are doing to the Islamic world and to Europe and other places to serve as a model and a bridge between the worlds of Islam and Christianity," Clinton is quoted as saying to Mr Shaimiev by the newspaper.

In Moscow and Kazan, Clinton underscored to audiences at elite universities – Moscow State University and Kazan State University - the Obama administration's desire to "reset" relations with Russia. Hillary Clinton urged to carry on the republic's tradition of ethnic and religious inclusion and equality. “President Obama has made a very strong outreach to the Islamic world because we want more understanding to enable people to work with each other, to live with other and have more tolerance,” US Department of State website quotes her as saying.

US Secretary of State considers Kazan State University, where Lenin once studied, to be “a very excellent university in Russia” and have “a reputation beyond Russia”, state.gov quotes. According to her words Kazan State University and the area in Tatarstan may be one of the biggest areas for foreign exchange students and exchange programs between the United States and other countries. Hillary Clinton emphasized the need for more Americans to come to the republic, just as there are more people from Tatarstan going to the United States.