Viktor Vekselberg Will Fund Upkeep of California's Tsarist-Era Fort Ross

June 23 (Bloomberg News) -- Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg pledged funding to maintain a Californian park that Russia established as a Pacific Ocean trading post in the 19th century.

Vekselberg’s Renova Group, a shareholder in BP Plc’s Russian venture TNK-BP, will donate at least $1 million a year to support Fort Ross, the billionaire said in San Francisco after signing an accord with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 22.

Operating hours at Fort Ross have been slashed as California struggles to stem its record budget deficit. Fort Ross was established by the Russian-American Company, a commercial hunting and trading venture chartered by the tsarist government. Russians inhabited the fort from 1812 to 1841.

Vekselberg is part of a group of executives accompanying President Dmitry Medvedev on a three-day visit to the U.S. The Kremlin leader in March asked Vekselberg to oversee the creation of a Russian version of Silicon Valley near Moscow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lyubov Pronina in Moscow at lpronina@bloomberg.net

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