BELGRADE, Serbia, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A Serbian politician is reclaiming the U.S. Embassy building, the property of his grandmother, once the Americans move to new premises.
Milan St. Protic, a former Serbia-Montenegro ambassador to Washington, said he will ask the government to give him back the building now housing the U.S. embassy on downtown Belgrade's Kneza Milosa Street, the Blic newspaper said Thursday.
The building was confiscated by former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito's communist regime after World War II, and then sold to the U.S. administration.
The United States is buying Tito's former residences in Belgrade for $15 million to build a new embassy in Serbia.
An agent specializing in real estate said the current embassy building is worth about $2.5 million.
Officials at the U.S. Embassy refused to disclose any further details about the land and houses they are buying, except to confirm they are working closely with the Serbian government in looking for a space for a new embassy.
