A group of Russian officials who are in charge of responding to natural disasters and other emergencies has been traveling Iowa, learning how officials in this state react to Mother Nature’s wrath. Gennady Ivanovich Bakharev is the head of the Ministry of Emergency Management for the Rostov region, which is in southwest Russia. He spoke to legislators this morning, through an interpreter and says the region has a lot of similarities between Iowa.Bakharev says his group of eight officers is learning a lot in Iowa. They have visited eastern Iowa and the Iowa National Guard’s headquarters in Johnston where state emergency management has a bunker. Bakharev presented state officials a painting of the major city in his region.The group arrived last week and leaves this coming Friday.