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The Moscow Summit : Reagans to Be Guests at a ‘Country Cottage’

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Times Staff Writer

The official White House schedule for Wednesday night says that President and Mrs. Reagan will join Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, for an intimate dinner “at a country cottage” outside Moscow.

Although the schedule does not specify it, Soviet sources say--and American diplomats confirm--that the cottage is actually the Gorbachevs’ country home . “I am told it is the private dacha of the general secretary,” said a high-ranking U.S. Embassy official. “It’s a very, very prestigious situation for the President and First Lady to be invited to the dacha . It is quite a personal honor.”

The U.S. officials described the dacha as “sort of a (Soviet) Camp David,” but they said they do not know whether the residence is handed down from one Kremlin leader to another. Soviet sources, however, say it is Gorbachev’s personally and that it resembles an estate more than a rustic hideaway.

Lush Forest

Situated at the end of a miles-long blacktop driveway guarded by a lone militiaman, the house is in an idyllic setting surrounded by lush forest in this town, about 19 miles west of Red Square. The only view of the residence visible from public roads is that of a distant whitish sliver hidden among the trees.

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Although the house borders the banks of the Moscow River, Soviet sources say, seclusion is assured because its section of river was dedicated as a water preservation station in the era of dictator Josef Stalin and remains off limits to bathers.

Still, the Gorbachevs’ stone and wood home, while obviously spacious, is not the largest in this area, which is favored by high-ranking officials, actors, movie directors and other VIPs who also are privileged to have both a central Moscow apartment and a place in Razdori. Neighbors report that distinction belongs to a dacha owned by Ilya Glazunov, the noted Soviet painter.

The Gorbachevs reportedly moved from their old dacha in Uspenskaya, another coveted country retreat outside Moscow, to the one in Razdori about 2 1/2 years ago.

Though the Gorbachevs also have a Moscow apartment, they apparently spend much of their time at the country home--which perhaps accounts for Raisa Gorbachev’s comment last December that the White House is little more than a “museum” and that “a human being would like to live in a regular house.”

Neighbors in the Razdori area say Gorbachev is chauffeured almost daily from the country residence to the Kremlin at high speeds in his luxurious Zil limousine. But he did not always have such an easy commute.

Sources say road improvements that reduce the commuting time to the Kremlin from 30 minutes to 15 each way were begun after the Gorbachevs moved to Razdori.

Potholes Gone

What was originally a two-lane road connecting Moscow to Razdori was widened to six lanes, landscaped and repaved. Gone are the gaping potholes and traffic congestion that plagued drivers here for years.

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As a result, when President and Mrs. Reagan head out Kutuzovsky Prospekt and pass through the new Krilatskaya District on their way to the dacha , they will see a one-year-old, state-of-the-art motorway that is sure to remind them more of a Los Angeles freeway than of a Soviet country lane.

Some charming side-of-the-road touches were left intact, however, including an ornate wooden house in the style of pre-revolution dachas , and some life-like statues of bears and deer that make the area look like a Disney theme park.

Two miles from the Gorbachevs’ house, the road narrows back to two lanes, perhaps for security reasons, since militiamen can stop and start traffic more efficiently on the smaller roadway.

But even this modest stretch received a face lift. Recently, modern Moscow-style lamp poles were installed, which is a rarity for such a simple Soviet country thoroughfare.

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