The Utah-Russia Institute (URI) housed at Utah Valley State College and administered through the Office of International Affairs, was established in 1993 by former Russian Federation Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Yegor T. Gaidar and by the former Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt, co-founder of the Western Governors University.

The executive director in Utah is Dr. R.E. “Rusty” Butler, a retired executive of the Boeing Corporation and a former senior aide in the U.S. Senate and the Reagan Administration. Dr. Butler has also been appointed as the Honorary Consul General of the Russian Federation in Utah.

Mission of the Utah-Russia Institute

The purpose of the URI is to promote mutually beneficial humanitarian, cultural, educational, commercial and technological projects in order to foster greater understanding, friendship, free enterprise, civil society and a strong democracy among and between the citizens of the Russian Federation and the state of Utah in particular and the United States in general.