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Subject: For Russian Troops, A House to Go Home to<By George F. Kennan<
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 09:22:42 EST
Message-ID: <45.1992Nov8.092243@AmeriCast.com>

For Russian Troops, A House to Go Home to<By George F. Kennan<

 On Oct. 23, the Russian defense minister, Gen. Pavel Grachev,
made known the intention of the Russian military command to
suspend withdrawal of Russian forces in the Baltic countries in
view, primarily, of the lack of housing in Russia for married
officers and their families. This decision was confirmed by a de-
cree announced by President Yeltsin on Oct. 30. It was received
with much anxiety and concern in the Baltic countries. The Ameri-
can State Department has already made known its unhappiness. Left
uncorrected, the resulting situation threatens highly unfortunate
consequences for relations among the countries of the region and
between our own country and the hard-pressed Russian government.
Serious dangers of morale and behavior may be involved if the
stationing of these forces outside the borders of their own coun-
try continues indefinitely without prospect of repatriation.

 Against this background I propose that the United States govern-
ment should offer, as a gesture of goodwill toward the Russian
and Baltic peoples and as a contribution to the stability of the
Baltic region, to take on itself the greater part of the burden
of the construction in Russia of suitable housing for all those
officers, commissioned and noncommissioned, who are professional-
ly employed in the Russian armed services and now on active duty
in the Baltics. The number of households requiring such accommo-
dation might run to as many as 20,000.  What would be required
would be the design and building not just of the individual hous-
ing units but of the entire social and physical infrastructure -
entire small communities, in other words, probably suburban to a
major Russian city.

 We would not be entirely alone in this effort. The Danish
government has already generously conveyed to the Russian govern-
ment its readiness to help. Other Nordic governments may do like-
wise. But a large gap will remain that Washington might offer to
fill. It would be a major contribution on the scale of, and in
the fine tradition of, the great and successful famine relief
program conducted in Russia in the early 1920s by the American
Relief Administration. In some respects, it would embody ap-
proaches involved in the Marshall Plan of 1947-48. It would have
to enlist, on the American side, both governmental leadership and
the best efforts of city planners and the home construction in-
dustry. It would require at many points the enthusiastic colla-
boration of Russian and Baltic authorities. But the part we might
take in the total effort would have to be under American direc-
tion, and all services and materials would have to meet highest
American standards.  The potential advantages are impressive. The
project would relieve both the Baltic governments and the Russian
one of problems of great seriousness that none of them seems to
have the capabilities to solve. It would promote stability in the
Baltic area, and would surmount an important obstacle Russia has
encountered in adjusting to the breakup of the former Soviet Un-
ion. I have been skeptical toward many of the ideas advanced for
helping Russia in its present agony. But I see this program as
being, idea for idea and dollar for dollar, the best and the most
hopeful contribution we could now make to easing problems scarce-
ly less dangerous for the remainder of Europe than for the Rus-
sians themselves.

 The Russian side would have to give assurances that there would
be no delay or hesitation in removing the troops as accommoda-
tions for them are made available on Russian territory. We would
have to be sure, on the other hand, that the Baltic governments
would see to it that normal civil rights were accorded to the
large Russian-civilian minorities that will presumably be left
behind.

 Any program put in hand must be commensurate with the dimensions
of the problem. Nothing could be worse than an inadequate and
hesitant effort that would leave the task only partially complet-
ed and end only in recrimination on all sides. The second neces-
sity would be that the urgency of the situation be recognized and
that consultations with the Russians be undertaken without delay.
Nor should the psychological effects of an early and energetic
response be ignored. Recall that the immediate public response to
Gen. Marshall's Harvard speech of 1947, from which the Marshall
Plan took its origin, was one of the most intense relief and
eager anticipation; a large part of the problem to which it was
addressed was met right then and there by the changed attitudes
of the people most directly affected.

 Voices will be raised to demand that if housing is to be built
on a large scale by American resources, this should be housing
for the American homeless. Neither in the needs to be met nor in
the normal sources of financial support is there any similarity
between these two sets of requirements; nor are they, even finan-
cially, mutually exclusive. There have been many possibilities
under consideration in recent months and years for help to Rus-
sia; all would have cost money. This one merely seems at the mo-
ment the most practical and suitable; the costs would not be
inordinate.

 The Germans are said to be already engaged in a similar program
of housing construction in Russia for members of the Russian mil-
itary forces being withdrawn from eastern Germany. We should be
able to benefit from their experiences as well as those of other
governments, particularly the Finns, that have been active in the
construction of hotels and other larger facilities on Russian
territory.

 In such an undertaking as here suggested, our country would have
opportunity to show what it is capable of in peaceful construc-
tion. It would be not just our engineers but the country as a
whole that was on display. I would like to think that the residue
of this effort would be the existence in Russia of a number of
residential communities that would not only meet the urgent needs
for which they were designed but would serve in future as endur-
ing evidences of American imagination, competence and goodwill.

 The writer is a retired American diplomat and a historian.<02:46
11-08C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
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