Some embassies of the now defunct Soviet Union have already replaced the old communist hammer-and-sickle flag with the Russian flag, while others are more hesitant.
Some former Soviet missions were quick to change their names to "Russian embassy," hoisting the white-red-and-blue Russian flag.Others said they planned to follow suit in the next few days or were awaiting the meeting next Monday of presidents of the 11 republics of the old Soviet Union, grouped in the newly proclaimed Commonwealth of Independent States.
At Moscow's former embassy to East Germany in Berlin, now a branch of the embassy in Bonn, and at the consulate-general in Hamburg, the white-red-blue flag was already out fluttering in the wind.
But Vladimir Petrovich Tere-chov sent holiday greetings to the German government and industry associations as "ambassador of the Union of Soviet Republics."
Soviet missions in Vienna, Rome, London and Warsaw all changed their names to "Russian" embassies but said they also represented the interests of the other 10 republics for the time being.
In Paris, the Soviet embassy confirmed that it planned to rename itself Monday. But the new mission would only represent Russian interests, a press spokesman said.
Soviet missions in Berne, Geneva, Brussels and Athens adopted a wait-and-see stance.
In Madrid, the mission spokesman appeared embarrassed when asked about the status of the embassy. He had no instructions from Moscow, but staff salaries came from Russia, he said. The embassy currently represented "the interests of all independent republics of the ex-USSR," he said.
The hammer-and-sickle flag had not been hoisted for some time at the embassy in Madrid, he said, and for now the embassy was using no flag at all.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service