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Politics : POWER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Copperfield who wrote (64)	5/20/2004 4:40:03 PM
From: Copperfield	Respond to of 129

U.S. Embassy: Spaso House Not so Simple By Edward M. Alford We at the U.S. Embassy are a little mystified as to the sourcing for Matt Bivens' column about Spaso House on Monday. He certainly did not talk to one principal party to the story -- namely, us. That's a shame: if he had, we could have corrected some serious omissions and mistakes in his column. Bivens has one fact right -- it is true that the rent on Spaso House is determined by a 1985 lease with no inflation clause -- but the rest of his case is flawed. Let me make a few points to set the record straight. Point 1: He fails to note that the no-inflation clause was dictated by the Soviet government, which for decades had benefited from receiving payments at the inflated "official" rate of the ruble. Point 2: Since there is a legally binding lease, which the Russian side does not dispute, the "several million dollars in arrears" that Bivens claims simply do not exist. The U.S. government has not only observed the terms of the Soviet lease, but has in fact invested millions of dollars in upkeep and improvements that the lease did not require. Point 3: Bivens completely ignores the fact that the U.S. government has been trying for several years to find a mutually acceptable solution that will secure Spaso House's role as a symbol of U.S.-Russian cooperation. This is not just any old house. Spaso House is rich in the history of the U.S.-Russian relationship over the past 70 years. That is why we have been trying to engage UPDK, the Foreign Ministry's property administration branch, in a constructive negotiation about the long-term future of Spaso House. We have twice had independent valuations of the property done. In 2001, well before the expiration of the current lease, we negotiated for months to purchase the property outright. And we have repeatedly raised the Spaso House lease with the Russian government at the highest levels, including Secretary of State Colin Powell's meeting with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in January. What needs to be done now? First, UPDK needs to work with us in determining the fair market value of Spaso House through independent valuations of the property. Then we can finally sit down at the table to discuss a solution that will be both fully transparent and worthy of the role that Spaso House has played in our relationship. We approach Russian-American relations in a spirit of partnership, from cooperation on counterterrorism and denuclearization projects to academic and cultural exchanges, on which we spend tens of millions of dollars each year. We need to approach the Spaso House lease issue in the same spirit. This is the other side of the story -- the one that Bivens should have checked into before writing his column. Edward M. Alford is minister-counselor for management at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.