Putin Starts Russian Reclamation

Russia is seeking to reclaim millions of pounds worth of property and assets it lost control over during the collapse of the Soviet Union, in an attempt by the Putin administration to rebuild the international image of the Russian state.

Vladimir Kozhin, who heads the powerful presidential property department, told the Interfax news agency: "We are actively searching for property that belonged to not only to the Soviet but to the Russian empire, too. Some considerable work has already been done and we shall claim that property."

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia gained control of the USSR's property abroad under agreements whereby it would pay off the USSR's debts. When he first came to Moscow in 1996, Mr Putin worked in the foreign assets section of the presidential property department. Viktor Khrekov, a spokesman for Mr Kozhin, said Mr Putin was "perfectly informed about problems in this area", and work had been going on to compile an inventory of property owned by the Russian state before and after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. Private investigators estimated eight years ago that the total value of the state's property abroad, much of it already under Russian control, was $400 billion (£240bn).

"Now we have absolutely definite information about what we own," said Mr Kohzin. "You can press a button and on a computer in front of you appears, 'Vietnam, on such and such a street, this building, in that condition, in which there is this and that item.'" The contents of the inventory have not been made public, but both the courts and negotiations would be used to reclaim the items, he said.