|
Russia and U.S. in landlord-tenant dispute
Palatial embassy for pennies a day
November 1, 1996
Web posted at: 7:15 p.m. EST (0005 GMT)From Correspondent Jackie Shymanski
MOSCOW (CNN) -- The landlord-tenant dispute is one of the more unpleasant offshoots of capitalism, and now it has reared its ugly head in a former bastion of communism.
Just ask Thomas Pickering, the United States Ambassador to Russia. He's having an altercation with his landlord, the Russian government, over the lease for Spaso House, home to U.S. ambassadors in Moscow since 1933.
(775K/22 sec. QuickTime movie)
"I don't think we received an eviction notice, and I don't think it's come to that point yet," said Pickering.
It's not that the U.S. has missed paying up for a month or two, or that the Americans have hosted too many loud parties in the ballroom. Rather, it's the Russians trying to break the lease -- and raise the rent.
Valentin Schegolev of Russia's Diplomatic Service Corps explained Moscow's perspective: "A long term contract was signed that stipulated a certain amount of rent. At that time, it was what everybody else was paying. But due to the devaluation of the ruble, the U.S. embassy ends up paying not dollars, but cents for the house."
It's not a bad deal for the U.S. Ambassador. For about $20 a year, or about $1.67 per month, Pickering enjoys as his residence a stunningly beautiful home with a dozen bedrooms and sitting rooms, nine bathrooms a splendid front hall complete with glittering crystal and gold chandelier.
Originally, the lease contract was for hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and Ambassador Pickering says the bargain basement rent is due the U.S.
"We paid a highly inflated price for many years. By our calculations they owe us more than $4 million on overpayments of the lease," Pickering said.
The Russians aren't buying that, or requests from the U.S. government to buy Spaso House. The Russians would rather collect monthly rent checks that could add up to $1 million a year at present market rates for Moscow.
The rental agreement for Spaso House has been canceled, but that doesn't mean the U.S. ambassador must begin looking for a new home.
"When we decided to cancel the contract, we said in the official notification that we had no plans to evict the ambassador," said Schegolev.
Both sides say they want to solve the rental dispute, but there is little expectation U.S.-Russian relations will suffer from it, which is perceived on both sides as good, old fashioned capitalism.
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.