Certain ambassadors visit fitness club of Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel on concessionary terms or even free-of-charge

Foreign diplomats enjoy concessionary or even free-of-charge terms in the fitness club of the Moscow Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel "for their special merits." Roman Solovyov, the fitness club manager, disclosed this information when commenting on reports concerning Japanese Ambassador to Russia Minoru Tamba who visits the club's swimming pool free-of-charge.

Solovyev did not specify for what kind of merits ambassadors enjoy such privileges.

According to him, several ambassadors really visit the fitness club with a 20-percent discount. However, he refused to disclose their names calling this information "highly classified." When speaking to journalists at a brief news conference on Friday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi publicly criticised Minoru Tamba for the aforesaid free-of-charge visits to the club.

The Minister stressed that the use of free-of-charge services "violates the spirit of the law on state employees." Minoru Tamba, in his turn, told Japanese journalists the other day that he was offered a free-of-charge season ticket "for guests of honour" to the fitness club of the Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel. He accepted the gift because other high-ranking foreign diplomats, including the Swiss Ambassador, enjoyed the same privileges there.