Pete Earley

Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, who held the same rank as an ambassador serving in an embassy overseas, was not expected to live in Riverdale. In April 1995, the representative was Sergei Lavrov, a seasoned diplomat who would later become the Russian minister of foreign affairs under President Putin.

“Ambassador Lavrov was constantly changing apartments in Manhattan, paying as much as $30,000 per month in rent, and moving from one part of the city to another,” Sergei would later recall. “He was required to alert the SVR each time he moved so our technical experts could make certain his apartment was free of FBI listening devices. But Lavrov was moving without telling us and I suspect he was more afraid and concerned about SVR bugs han he was about anything the Americans might hide in his apartment.”