On Thursday, the Latvian Seim approved the final reading of the bill providing for the nationalization of the Moscow House.
It is planned to sell the building later and transfer the proceeds to Ukraine. Its sale is decided at executive level.
The purpose of the bill developed by the Committee on National Security of the Seimas is to ensure national security, including the prevention and timely elimination of threats to the democratic state order.
The commission noted that the law in question guarantees the cessation of political activities that threaten the security of the Latvian state, which take place in the Moscow House under the guise of cultural events and educational interest. Furthermore, the House of Moscow will disappear as a symbol of the politics of Russian compatriots, eliminating the threat to order and security of the Latvian state.
It is known that the international sanctions imposed on Russia made the activity of the Moscow House difficult, but did not stop it completely. According to data from the State Security Service, after February 24, 2022 the premises of the Moscow building continued to be rented to people whose activities showed signs of support for Russia’s aggressive foreign policy.
Since the Moscow House has long been engaged in anti-Latvian and harmful activities, and the concentration of dangerous political elites threatens the country’s security and its democratic system, Latvia is obliged to implement measures against the Moscow House, the authors of the bill.
The Moscow House belongs to the Municipal Heritage Office of the City of Moscow. Historically, the Moscow House has been legally represented by the House of Culture and the Moscow Business Center, which belongs to the Real Estate Council of the City of Moscow, and since March 10, 2020, by the Moscow International Cooperation Center of the Society of the City of Moscow, who is granted the right to use the property indefinitely in the land registry. According to the report of the draft law, the structure of both legal entities is linked to the direct influence of Russia and Moscow.
The Moscow City Real Estate Department is a structural unit of the Moscow City Government headed by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Referring to publicly available information, the commission notes that the Moscow Center for International Cooperation is subordinated to the Moscow Department of Foreign Economy and International Relations, which in turn is subordinated to the Moscow City Government. In this regard, it can be said with great certainty that the activities of this department are effectively controlled by the mayor of Moscow Sobyanin.
The National Security Commission noted that the land of the Moscow House belongs to the Latvian State, represented by the Ministry of Transport, therefore it is proposed to consolidate the ownership right in the name of the State, represented by the Ministry of Transport. Therefore, with the adoption of the law, a single real estate object is created, which includes both the land and the building.
The law also specifies other issues relating to the ownership of real estate and subsequent actions with it. The project provides that the property will become unencumbered state property, that is, the state will not continue or assume obligations arising from the actions of the previous owner and persons related to him.
The bill also provides that the owners of the property located in the Moscow house have the right and obligation to remove it within seven days, after this period the remaining property will be considered property and handed over to the state, and the decision is done about it. The government will look into this further. The law also obliges to re-register legal addresses registered with the Moscow House.
The transitional rules of the bill provide that the government will submit a report on further activities in the real estate sector to the Seimas by March 31, 2024, taking into account the fact that Latvia does not have any enrichment goals and does not want to achieve any. benefit from this property, one must consider the possibility of using this building to help Ukraine and Ukrainians.
After the Moscow House is taken over by the state, its maintenance costs will be estimated at 495,395 euros per year.
2024-01-11 11:34:00
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