The Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute has again suspended its operations in Russia, claiming that a dispute over the right to use the premises where its Moscow office are located is preventing it from functioning, polit.ru reported on 31 July.

According to the institute's Moscow director Yekaterina Genieva, the company Nobel Technologies has surrounded the building with armed guards in an effort to collect the $50,000 in back rent that it claims the institute owes. Polit.ru reported that, on 30 July, a Moscow court ruled in favor of the Open Society Institute, saying the 10-year lease it signed with the building's previous owner is legally binding and gives the institute the right to remain on the premises another six years. The institute's activities in Russia will remain suspended until the dispute is resolved, Genieva said.

(RFE/RL 01.viii.02)