Eviction Notice

Eighteen years ago, just after the U.S. formally recognized the Soviet Union, an unknown young U.S. Foreign Service officer named George F. Kennan sat down with the Russians to negotiate the lease on a new seven-story building at 13-15 Mokhovaya, only a stone's throw across a square from the Kremlin. It became the main building of the U.S. Embassy. Last week Kennan, now the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, got his eviction notice. He was told to be out by Dec. 31.

Whether this was a legitimate request or just one more form of Russian harassment, Kennan could not be sure. The Russians said they need the place for expanding Moscow University, which is next door. The embassy building, erected in 1933 to house Soviet artists and composers, costs the U.S. an annual rent of 250,000 rubles (about $62,500). Shoddily made and shy of electrical outlets for the gadget-loving Americans, 13-15 Mokhovaya also has its advantages--it is only a mile from the Ambassador's residence (a pre-revolutionary palace called Spaso House), and has a window on the Kremlin, across a couple of acres of police-guarded asphalt.

The real test will be what kind of quarters Kennan can find. It's all up to the only landlord in Russia, the state.

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