It begins with a dispute in the 1990s between the German businessman Franz Sedelmayer and the Russian state. President Boris Yeltsin then decides to nationalize Sedelmayer’s assets in Russia.
The German businessman wants compensation and chooses to pursue a process in Sweden, where the Russian trade representation owns the seven-story building on Lidingö.
Sedelmayer requests seizure of the property in 2003. But Russia repeatedly appeals all decisions and believes that the house is protected by diplomatic immunity because embassy staff live there.
Among other things, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt gets involved, writing a letter to the Kronofogden and saying that a forced sale could damage Swedish relations with Russia.
But in 2014, a decade and several legal rounds later, the property is sold at executive auction to lawyer Stefan Häge’s company. The price tag will be SEK 12 million.
However, the Russian tenants refuse to pay the rent of roughly 275,000 kroner a month and cannot be evicted due to diplomatic immunity, which results in Häge suing the Russian state for non-payment of rent.
The conflict continues to this day and the rent debt is now in the millions.
