Unequal abroad, punchier at home
As Boris Yeltsin meets Bill Clinton in Helsinki, we examine--in three articles--Russia's continuing awkwardness abroad, its mixed attitude to things American, and its hope for more determined reform at home
THE next American ambassador to Russia, yet to be appointed after Thomas Pickering's departure in October, will find a first diplomatic wrangle waiting on his own splendid threshold. Spaso House, the ambassador's mansion in the Arbat district of Moscow, was leased to America in 1985 for 120,000 Soviet roubles a year. Inflation has cut the value of that sum to barely $20--perhaps a 40,000th of the current market rent. In this respect as in many others, Russia has decided it gave itself too cheaply to the West. It wants to rewrite the contract.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Unequal abroad, punchier at home”
From the March 22nd 1997 edition
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