Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Italy have reportedly suspended further loan disbursements to the Soviet Union because of the unacceptable level of risk involved in any further business with Moscow center.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Its latest deal, completed in March, was the acquisition of the White Square Office Center in central Moscow, home to Microsoft Corp.

WSJ: Office Owner in Moscow Embraces Western Ways

"I think what he did was a revolution in terms of Russia's foreign policy, " says Dmitri Trenin of the Moscow Carnegie Center.

CNN: 9/11 a 'turning point' for Putin

Meantime, slow-but-steady transit improvements to the area and policy changes under the new mayor made Moscow City one of the few new developments allowed to continue in the city center, say industry experts.

WSJ: Moscow Business Complex Sees Rebirth

Secretary Baker's erosion of the milestones Moscow center was expected to achieve in order to qualify for U.S. and allied taxpayer-underwritten aid is occurring at the same moment that the serious shortfall in the Soviet transformation is becoming more apparent.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

The Moscow city government lowered the maximum allowable height of buildings in the historic center of the city from 100 to 75 meters, although buildings which are already under construction will not be lowered.

FORBES: Moscow's Awful New Anti-Growth Height Limit

His company, Logovaz, became the center of his economic interests, but also a political nexus that he set up in a Moscow palace known as the Logovaz mansion.

WSJ: Boris Berezovsky, Exiled Russian Tycoon, Dies

Assessing the legality of the Bush Administration's decision to extend billions in taxpayer-underwritten credit guarantees to an obviously uncreditworthy sovereign borrower -- like Moscow center -- when the Farm Act of 1990 explicitly prohibits such transactions.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy