24 August 2003 03:38
Russian official criticizes U.S. Embassy for lack of financial
scrupulousness
MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - A Russian Foreign Ministry official has put the U.S. Embassy in Moscow among the less
scrupulous players on the Russian real estate market.
Sergeyev referred to a dispute concerning the U.S.' rent payment
for the residence of American ambassadors in Moscow, or The Spaso
The mansion was rented at 25 rubles, or $42, per square meter a
year, according to an official exchange rate used at that time.
"In the cinema or music world, they award kind of anti-prizes to those who had the worst achievements in their
area of activity. If such an award existed on the real estate market, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow would be candidate
number one," chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry's main department for diplomatic corps services Ivan
Sergeyev said in an interview published in the August issue of the Diplomat magazine.
House. He recalled that the then USSR concluded a contract on its rent with the U.S. in December 1985, and its
validity term expires on June 1, 2005.
However, taking into account the present-day realities, this rent rate is "just absurd," Sergeyev said.
Some of these countries, "like in former times, are trying to
appeal to all-forgiving attitudes of the Soviet era," based on
"We have repeatedly suggested new contract terms to the U.S. Embassy, using rent rates established by the
Russian State Property Relations Committee for analogous buildings in Moscow, which would meet the contemporary
realities. Unfortunately, the U.S. did not accept these proposals," he said.
"Of course, from the purely legal standpoint, the embassy's position is flawless. But from the moral: If I
were the ambassador of the richest and strongest power in the world, I would feel uncomfortable to occupy such a
magnificent mansion in one of the most prestigious districts of Moscow and pay for it less then a room at a motel in
some provincial town in Texas costs," Sergeyev said.
Speaking about the department's debtors, Sergeyev mentioned the embassies of Afghanistan, Palestine, Guinea, the
Republic of Guinea- Bissau, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somali, Chad, and some other countries, which account
for over half of the entire debts of the diplomatic corps in Moscow.
internationalism principles, which gives them grounds to believe that Russia's friendly feelings towards them
makes it unnecessary to pay rent payments for premises they occupy, Sergeyev said.
The department was able to reach an understanding with the Russian government so as to regard the debts that these
embassies have continued to incur as the state debts of their countries, he said.
Over the last year and the first five months of 2003, the department managed to recover debts amounting to $6.5
million, Sergeyev said.
The embassies of Cameroon, Zambia, Nigeria, and Kenya have cleared virtually all their debts for previous years. As
for the embassies of Mauritania, Sudan, and Libya, they have been relocated to smaller premises fitting their financial
abilities, Sergeyev said.
"This practice [of settling foreign embassies in keeping with their financial status] will be continued in the
future as well," he said. [RU US EUROPE ASIA EEU EMRG DIP] va <>
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