MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry is ready to cooperate with the Moscow municipal authorities in handing over its stock of flats to the city, but if standing laws are met, a spokesman for the ministry's quartering and accommodation service told Interfax-Military News Agency Friday.
"The allegations of the municipal authorities that we do not want to let our stock of flats out of our hands is bewildering, if not to say more," he said.
According to the spokesman the hand-over procedures of realty from federal property into the property of Moscow City are defined in ordinances of President Vladimir Putin and the government.
"For instance, the list of buildings to be handed over to the Moscow municipality includes 218 blocks of flats with engineering equipment. It should have been approved by the legislative body of the capital first. However, the City Duma has not done it yet," he added.
"Therefore, the documents on handing over the facilities cannot be submitted to the government for consideration," he said.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov voiced his bewilderment on the issue why the Defense Ministry and the Atomic Energy Ministry are delaying the process of handing over their stocks of flats to the municipality. "We are ready to accept the flats, because Muscovites live there, but these ministries keep holding them tight," he said.