Moscow's Ukraina hotel (file photo) (epa)
23 November 2005 -- One of Moscow's famous Stalinist skyscrapers, the Ukraina Hotel, was sold today at an auction for more than $270 million.
The new owner, a Russian company, paid nearly twice the starting price of $151 million.
Moscow authorities decided to sell the city-owned building because of the expense of upkeep. Any renovation of the hotel is expected to cost at least $70 million.
The 34-level Ukraina hotel was built in the 1950s and was meant to be Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's answer to the skyscrapers of New York.
(INTERFAX/AFP/lenta.ru)