Buildings of many foreign embassies in Kyiv have been put up for auction

 The employees of foreign embassies and consulates in Kyiv could soon find themselves

without a roof over their heads. Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy put up for auction buildings leased by foreign embassies

The buildings are municipally owned and diplomatic missions pay very low rent. Kyiv City Hall assures that this has a negative impact on the city budget. Now, any bidder will be able to acquire these buildings on auction and evict the embassy staff. The embassies of the following countries are under threat of eviction: France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland, Croatia, Armenia, Kyrgyz Republic, Cuba, Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt and Algeria, as well as the Representative Office of the European Commission in Ukraine. Chernovetskiy assured: “I guarantee that not a single building will be put up for sale on auction without prior coordination and talks with the embassies of the corresponding countries.”

If to believe Chernovetskiy and his deputies, it was the embassies that insisted on the sale of the buildings in order to buy the leased premises on auction to become their full-fledged owners.

As it turned out, not all countries are aware of what is transpiring. The Czech Republic already sent to Ukraine a diplomatic communique in which it says it was not informed about the plans of Kyiv City Hall to sell the building of their embassy. Moreover, in January the mayor’s office extended the lease agreement for the embassy’s building until 2012.

Experts believe that the buildings will be acquired on auctions by companies that officials of the city administration have a stake in. “Embassies are stable tenants. After the auctions, they will be paying private companies the market price for leasing the premises,” says Viktoria Kernesh, and analyst at the Interfon investment fund.