Spaso House - Post-Soviet Era

Post-Soviet Era

In the years following the breakup of the Soviet Union, President Bill Clinton visited Moscow four times, and each time was a guest of Spaso House. On March 24, 2002, President George W. Bush also came to Spaso House to commemorate the signing that day of the Moscow Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms Reductions.

During the tenure of Ambassador John Beyrle, Spaso House was the site of several symbolic events which symbolized the "reset" and improvement of Russian-American relations. These included a reception for Russian World War II veterans, which featured a real World War II Lend-Lease jeep parked in the ballroom; a ceremony for the return of a medallion, owned by the family of Czar Nicholas II, which had been stolen from the Hermitage Museum, and recovered by American and Russian law enforcement; and a ceremony on July 20, 2010 honoring the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint Soviet-American space mission in July 1975, with the participation of astronauts Thomas Patten Stafford and Vance Brand and cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov.

On October 29, 2010, Ambassador Beyrle celebrated the connections between American and Russian literature and culture by hosting an Enchanted Ball at Spaso House. The ball recalled the Spring Ball of 1935 held by Ambassador William Bullitt, which inspired the ball in the novel Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Guests at the 2010 ball included theater director Oleg Tabakov, writers Victor Erofeev and Vladimir Sorokin, and sculptors Zurab Tsereteli and Alexander Bourganov. (See video of ball below under external links).