RIGA — An enigmatic Russian firm that earlier this month agreed to pay over 1.55 million lats (€2.1 million) for the former Soviet military town Skrunda-1, has failed to make the first payment, Latvia’s privatization agency said.

Spokeswoman Anete Frīdenšteina-Brīdiņa said that Aleksejevskoje-Serviss, a Russia-registered firm, failed to make the obligatory payment of 97,860 lats (€138,000) by the close of the business day on Feb. 19. She said the firm did not provide an [private_supervisor]explanation for the delay.

The agency has not yet decided whether to nullify the Russian firm’s right to purchase the property, but Frīdenšteina-Brīdiņa that if that eventuality the auction participant that placed the second best bid would be given the opportunity to buy Skrunda-2, which auction officials refer to as Mežaine.

The second place bidder at the Feb. 5 auction was Magamed Gurbanov, a resident of Azerbaijan. He bid 1.54 million lats (€2.1 million) for the property.

The Mežaine property is a bona fide ghost town — during its heyday, some 5,000 people took up resident in the town, then known as Skrunda-1. The town centered on high-tech Soviet communications systems that listened to sounds in space and monitored the atmosphere for a ballistic attack from the direction of Scandinavia.

The radar installations were shut down in the mid-1990s, and the last residents of the two left in 1998.

Since then the town has been utterly vacant, though it has remained under guard. The 70 buildings inside the town are in an advance state of disrepair, and many are too dilapidated to repair.[/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]explanation for the delay.

The agency has not yet decided whether to nullify the Russian firm’s right to purchase the property, but Frīdenšteina-Brīdiņa that if that eventuality the auction participant that placed the second best bid would be given the opportunity to buy Skrunda-2, which auction officials refer to as Mežaine.

The second place bidder at the Feb. 5 auction was Magamed Gurbanov, a resident of Azerbaijan. He bid 1.54 million lats (€2.1 million) for the property.

The Mežaine property is a bona fide ghost town — during its heyday, some 5,000 people took up resident in the town, then known as Skrunda-1. The town centered on high-tech Soviet communications systems that listened to sounds in space and monitored the atmosphere for a ballistic attack from the direction of Scandinavia.

The radar installations were shut down in the mid-1990s, and the last residents of the two left in 1998.

Since then the town has been utterly vacant, though it has remained under guard. The 70 buildings inside the town are in an advance state of disrepair, and many are too dilapidated to repair.[/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]explanation for the delay.

The agency has not yet decided whether to nullify the Russian firm’s right to purchase the property, but Frīdenšteina-Brīdiņa that if that eventuality the auction participant that placed the second best bid would be given the opportunity to buy Skrunda-2, which auction officials refer to as Mežaine.

The second place bidder at the Feb. 5 auction was Magamed Gurbanov, a resident of Azerbaijan. He bid 1.54 million lats (€2.1 million) for the property.

The Mežaine property is a bona fide ghost town — during its heyday, some 5,000 people took up resident in the town, then known as Skrunda-1. The town centered on high-tech Soviet communications systems that listened to sounds in space and monitored the atmosphere for a ballistic attack from the direction of Scandinavia.

The radar installations were shut down in the mid-1990s, and the last residents of the two left in 1998.

Since then the town has been utterly vacant, though it has remained under guard. The 70 buildings inside the town are in an advance state of disrepair, and many are too dilapidated to repair.[/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]explanation for the delay.

The agency has not yet decided whether to nullify the Russian firm’s right to purchase the property, but Frīdenšteina-Brīdiņa that if that eventuality the auction participant that placed the second best bid would be given the opportunity to buy Skrunda-2, which auction officials refer to as Mežaine.

The second place bidder at the Feb. 5 auction was Magamed Gurbanov, a resident of Azerbaijan. He bid 1.54 million lats (€2.1 million) for the property.

The Mežaine property is a bona fide ghost town — during its heyday, some 5,000 people took up resident in the town, then known as Skrunda-1. The town centered on high-tech Soviet communications systems that listened to sounds in space and monitored the atmosphere for a ballistic attack from the direction of Scandinavia.

The radar installations were shut down in the mid-1990s, and the last residents of the two left in 1998.

Since then the town has been utterly vacant, though it has remained under guard. The 70 buildings inside the town are in an advance state of disrepair, and many are too dilapidated to repair.[/private_subscription 1 year]

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