Officials Call For Shutdown Of Russian Estate On Long Island

GLEN COVE, NY — As people around the world condemn and punish Russia for its unprovoked attack on Ukraine, Long Island leaders are calling on the federal government to take action locally and expel Russian diplomats from the Killenworth Estate in Glen Cove.

"President Biden, expel these Russians from Nassau County," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a news conference outside the compound Saturday. "We don't need them here, and let's get this property back on the tax rolls so the people of Nassau County and Glen Cove don't have to finance thugs and dictators and people who invade innocent countries."

Blakeman — who attended the event with U.S. Rep Lee Zeldin and Glen Cove Mayor Pam Panzenbeck — said the county loses about $50,000 a year in tax revenue. There is reportedly a long-standing conflict with the city of Glen Cove over the property's tax status.

Killenworth, originally the home of late industrialist George du Pont Pratt, was purchased by the Soviet Union in the 1940s. For years, Russian diplomats used the Dosoris Lane estate as a holiday retreat.

"The United States cannot let Putin's people doing his bidding to live in tax-free compounds on Long Island," Zeldin, a Republican from Suffolk County and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday. "President Biden must immediately close Russia's Killenworth Estate and send their diplomats packing today!"

Evicting Russians from Killenworth, however, may not be so easy.

According to Newsday, the State Department says the property is a United Nations residence that is outside federal jurisdiction.

Farhan Haq, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. secretary-general, told the news outlet in an email: "I can't speak to U.S. actions, since I don't speak for the U.S. government. However, there is a Host Country agreement with the U.S., by which the U.S. as host country does allow other countries to maintain their diplomatic missions to the UN."

Blakeman and Zeldin believe it's possible to kick out the Russian diplomats.

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama shuttered two Russian compounds in the U.S. in retaliation for Kremlin interference in the presidential election. One of the properties was Elmcroft Estate in Upper Brookville.

Julian Ku, the Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at Hofstra University Law School, spoke to Newsday about the matter.

In an email on Friday, Ku said: "as far as I understand it, the property in Brookville and the property in Glen Cove are both residences related to Russia's UN Mission ... So I think, as a legal matter, the US government can expel those diplomats in the same way it expelled the diplomats from Brookville."

Ku also told Newsday that Russia "has objected to the way it was expelled from the Brookville residence and claimed the seizure violated U.S. treaty obligations. So the U.S. may not want to have more disputes with Russia and other UN members over this kind of expulsion."

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending troops and tanks from multiple directions in a move that could rewrite the world's geopolitical landscape.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who risks turning his country into a global and economic pariah, said he authorized the pre-dawn attacks to protect people who have been "subjected to bullying and genocide" in Ukraine.

The West has dismissed Russia's accusations, with President Joe Biden calling them "baseless claims."

"Putin is the aggressor," Biden said last week. "Putin chose this war."

Leaders around the globe say Putin is attempting to redraw the map of Europe and resurrect the country's Cold War influence.