Dacha (pronounced "die-cha"). The Russian summer home or cottage. Many urban Russians own a second home in the outlying country areas. For example, residents of Moscow might own an apartment in the city and a dacha 40 to 50 kilometers outside the city. In Soviet times, many of these summer homes were relatively spartan affairs, some with no heating, etc. Some however, are on an acre or two of land and can be used as year-a-round homes. With the new economic boom in Moscow, the "New Russians" (i.e., those lucky or corrupt enough to be rich) are building huge, sprawling compounds (often many acres in size) that costs millions of U.S. dollars to construct. Many of the New Russians live in these home year around, commuting into the city. This includes many of the country's politicians, as well as members of the Russian mafia. Their homes are guarded by heavily armed guards, and caravans of black SUVs and BMW's form motorcades that take these people into the city center during the week, causing the already nightmarish Moscow traffic to grind to a halt. These motorcades have a single flashing blue light on the vehicles. There supposedly has been a crackdown on individuals who obtain such lights improperly. I'm not sure if I believe that. There seems to be an awful lot of cars with flashing blue lights around.
Regular Russians (middle class to upper middle class) have smaller summer homes outside the city. I've become quite close with my interpreter, a Russian woman named Ludmilla. I'd guess that Ludmilla is in her early 50's. She and her husband, Sasha (short for Alexander -- don't even get me started, this is the subject of another blog post) have a dacha about 40 miles to the South of Moscow. During the ABA seminar on the European Court of Human Rights, we'd been discussing our gardens, and I had told her about my parent's properties in Northern Michigan (a smaller full-time home on a lake and a larger acreage on the Manistee River). Ludmilla was very intrigued about this, as well as my home in Washington, D.C. (she was surprised I did not have a summer cottage outside of the city -- I wish!). Yesterday (Saturday), on the final day of an ABA seminar in Moscow) Ludmilla invited me to visit her and Sasha that evening at their dacha. I readily agreed.
At about 3:30 p.m., after the seminar had ended, we took a taxi to Ludmilla's summer cottage. I have to tell you, it was absolutely beautiful. The property sits on about two acres, and the gardens were glorious. The flowers will still blooming, and the property was full of birches, maples, chestnuts, and apple trees. They also had wonderful raspberries bushes. It totally reminded me of Michigan! Ludmilla's father was an engineer in the Soviet military, and the government granted him "use" of the property after WWII. Originally, he had four acres, but he gave half of the property use to his brother (a point of discontent with Ludmilla, who clearly wishes she had the full four acres today). Ludmilla's father built a two story home on the property. Inside is knotty pine and gorgeous wide-plank hardwood floors. Their dacha is fully functional year round, and they live there most of the year (they still have an apartment in the city, as well as a vacation home in Spain). The property has has a separate guest house with a banya (Russian sauna or steam bath). The place was very, very nice.
It was interesting, though, to hear about the state of private property ownership in Russia. Ludmilla's father was not the "owner" of the property -- the state was. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has gradually instituted the right of private property ownership. However, users of former state-owned property, like Ludmilla, have to go through a complex bureaucratic system to shift property into their private names. Ludmilla is still in the process of getting this completed. As you can imagine, the Russian government is in no hurry to complete this process. Land outside of Moscow is VERY valuable, and the government has been known to stall the process to keep such property in government hands (and perhaps shifted to corrupt government officials). I asked Ludmilla if she was worried about the whole process. She sighed and said, "Why should I worry -- it is not in my control. I must only worry about what I control. Do I control this process? No. I'll worry if a problem arises." Good advice, I guess, and probably healthy, but I'm not sure I would be able to follow it. In any case, Ludmilla said she was confident that the process would work out fine. Apparently, several other property owners have already gotten their certificates of title, and Ludmilla's should be coming soon.
Ludmilla's and Sasha's hospitality was great. We drank wine, ate fresh raspberries, apples, and peaches from the garden, along with cheese. I had a great time -- hopefully, one day I can repay their hospitality in the States. Ludmilla has never been to the United States. I had a great time.




