CENTREVILLE, Maryland--In small convoys of vehicles, Russians departed two countryside vacation retreats outside Washington and New York City without fanfare on Friday, ordered out by U.S. President Barack Obama who said the premises were linked to spying.
The Russians were given until noon ET on Friday to vacate the compounds in Centreville, Maryland, and in Upper Brookville on Long Island in New York state. By early afternoon, trucks, buses and black sedans with diplomatic license plates had left.
"The premises have been vacated and it's under control of the government," Elliot Conway, the mayor of Upper Brookville, told reporters soon after noon, when a total of six vehicles had driven away from the Russian compound there.
"They've been quiet neighbours," Conway said, adding he had never met anyone who lived at the estate set in rolling countryside about 25 miles (40 km) from Manhattan.
In Maryland, about a dozen vehicles left the sprawling waterfront estate, watched by officials from the U.S. State Department. Some passengers smiled and waved as they rode away from the compound, which is located in a wooded farm area with winding narrow roads.
Obama abruptly ordered the closures on Thursday, saying the compounds had been "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes." It was part of his response, including the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies, to what U.S. officials have called cyber interference by Moscow in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign. The Kremlin has denied the hacking allegations.
The closures echoed the old days of tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union. When Soviet officials bought compound in Centreville to be used as a country retreat for diplomats posted to Washington, it rattled residents of the bayside Maryland town. It was 1972, in the deep chill of the Cold War. People were suspicious of the Soviets and "thought they were spies ... It was the folklore of Centreville," said Joe Dawkins, who works locally in agriculture.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation kept an office in Centreville for a time, residents said. The FBI office closed years ago, they said, and over time neighbours in this community of about 4,500 people got used to Russian-accented officials shopping at the liquor store, hunting nearby and dining at a popular Irish pub, O'Shucks.
The Russian government maintained the compound after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Property records show the Russian government owns an estate on Town Point Lane in Centreville valued at $8 million for tax purposes.
The 45-acre (20-hectare) estate includes a Georgian-style brick mansion, tennis courts and smaller cottages. It sits on the banks of the Corsica and Chester Rivers, where the locals like to fish, harvest oysters and hunt geese.
Neighbours said the Russians were a lively bunch, seen water-skiing in summer and known for throwing a large, annual Labor Day party. Each May, to celebrate Russia's Victory Day, marking the defeat of the Nazis in World War Two, the compound hosts a soccer tournament for diplomats from former Soviet republics.
George Sigler, a Centreville councilman, said he had visited the compound several times for a semi-regular regatta held jointly by the Russians and a sailing club in nearby Annapolis. There, Sigler said, he socialized with diplomats, including a former Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov.
