LI property being shuttered amid Russian sanctions by Obama

The president’s anti-hacking penalties against Russia include closing two compounds, one of which The Washington Post identified as a 14-acre Glen Cove estate the Soviets bought in 1954.

The White House said both the New York compound and one in Maryland will be shuttered as of noon on Friday; the statement did not identify the specific properties.

The Post said the Obama administration would shut down Russian-owned facilities in Maryland and New York that Obama said were used for intelligence.

The newspaper reported U.S. officials would not confirm the location of the New York compound, saying only that it was a 14-acre property on Long Island that had been purchased by the Soviet government in 1954. Two Long Island estates are owned by the Russians, including the Glen Cove property, neither of which was purchased in 1954.

The Russians maintain the Glen Cove parcel called Killenworth House and an Upper Brookville property called Norwich House, records of which were updated in 1954.

Asked late Thursday about the New York property, White House spokesman Keith Maley said, “Unfortunately, we aren’t in a position to confirm additional details beyond the fact sheet.”

Killenworth House was considered one of the most beautiful homes on Long Island when Newsday stories show the Soviet Union purchasing it as a vacation retreat in 1950. It totals 37 acres, according to property records and Newsday stories.

Norwich House, the Upper Brookville parcel, totals 14 acres, property records show. The former Soviet Union bought Norwich House, which Newsday nicknamed the “Second Little Kremlin on Long Island,” in 1952. The size of the parcel was adjusted in 1954.

Since 1971, Russia also has owned a smaller compound in Riverdale, the Bronx; experts say it is a hub for the nation’s cyber spies.

The Maryland property that will be closed is a luxurious country home on the Chesapeake Bay in Chestertown, according to media reports.

U.S. and local officials in New York said they had yet to be told if Russians would be barred from the Glen Cove estate.

“To me, this is up to the president. I support the president in this. To me this is overdue, I support the sanctions,” said Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who serves on the Homeland Security Committee and chairs the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

“There can be intelligence reasons as to why you pick one over the other, and signals the Russians understand,” he added.

The Glen Cove mansion was built around 1913 for a son of Charles Pratt, a Standard Oil tycoon.

The 1918 Norwich House was once the home of former New York Gov. Nathan L. Miller, who served from 1921 to 1922.

Both mansions share storied histories.

Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet premier during the worst of the Cold War, was photographed by Newsday while visiting the Glen Cove estate in 1960.

Norwich House was the official residence for Valerian A. Zorian during the 1950s, when he was the Soviet delegate to the United Nations, Newsday stories show. Before that appointment, he directed the Soviet coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 as deputy foreign minister.

The former governor entertained a papal secretary, who later became the pope, at his mansion, where all of Miller’s seven daughters made their debuts, according to Newsday stories.

With Tom Brune