BeeCurious, we have had many Russian and Ukrainian entomologists and commercial beekeepers stay with us over the years, and even with their unwavering pride for all that is native to their lands, they each begged for Sunkist stock to take to their countries... the Ukraine has very exceptional bees, as Ted pointed out... the Carpathian is gentle, sturdy, and extremely productive. If they had used a combination of the selection process that we use here with there native adaptive bees, the result would be astonishing... the down side to their situation is that the selection processes were more lax and this there are widely differing stocks in each yard... one hive may be superb in production, while the next two are less than average production but very gentle, then the next have great build up but less production... we have worked for many years teaching and exchanging knowledge and experiences with their industry leaders to help them to better isolate these traits and build on their presence across the strains... in turn, they have helped us to better understand the ways that varroa has effected their bees since its introduction, and the ways that their bees have been addressing those stresses.
Apiator, ND is certainly a climate of its own... but the bees of the primorsky region are acclimated to much more than just cold and long winters... there are completely different food sources, dietary and behavioral foraging, pests, diseases, and predation, and competition... another aspect of the issues involved is that any strain introduced into the US MUST be evaluated to see what will happen when it is crossed with the current inhabitants... but the most important issue of all is that the US bee and agricultural system works as a system within itself... if the primorsky bee was to perform perfectly in the ND region, that is fine, but how would it effect the bees of the south, east, mid-west, west, and north... these other areas all work together to provide pollenation at different times for crops that bloom at different times and are required to feed the nation.