On 13 June 1988 a US party including Alaskan Natives and business, political and media representatives flew from Nome, Alaska to Provideniya, Siberia, on a ‘friendship flight’ arranged by the State of Alaska and Soviet authorities. In August of the same year MV Society Explorer, a US-operated cruise ship, made a 20-hour port call in Provideniya. On 7 September the Soviet research vessel Dmitri Laptev paid a return visit from Provideniyato Nome with a party of Yupik natives and Soviet officials. These visits represent the first formal contacts between neighbouring communities across Bering Strait for over 40 years.