Embassy of the United States, Moscow

The Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Russian Federation. The current embassy compound is in the Presnensky District of Moscow. Its New Office Building (NOB) address is: Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8. The NOB was opened on May 5, 2000. From 1934 to 1953 the embassy was located in the Mokhovaya House, 13 Mokhovaya Street, near the Kremlin. In 1953 the embassy moved into the Existing Office Building (EOB) on Novinskiy Boulevard, which still remains a part of the embassy compound.[1]

Embassy of the United States, Moscow
Native name
Russian: Посольство Соединенных Штатов Америки, Москва
(Posol'stvo Soedinennykh Shtatov Ameriki, Moskva)

New embassy as seen from the street
LocationBolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8
Presnensky District,
Moscow, Russia
Coordinates55.755556°N 37.583056°E / 55.755556; 37.583056

Organization

The embassy consists of the following sections:[2]

  • Political Section
  • Management Section
  • Regional Security Office
  • Economic Affairs Section
  • Public Affairs Section
  • Consular Section
  • Environment, Science, Technology, & Health Section
  • Law Enforcement Section

In addition, representatives of several U.S. federal agencies work in the embassy.[2]

The embassy oversees two Consulates General in Russia: Vladivostok[3] and Yekaterinburg.[4]

Building
The old building of the US Embassy in Moscow.

During the period 1953–1976 the Soviets irradiated the US Embassy in Moscow with microwaves in the Moscow Signal incident.[5]

In 1964, covert listening devices were discovered within the US Embassy in Moscow.[6]

On August 26, 1977, a fire erupted on the eighth floor of the embassy building. Although it was extinguished, a large amount of information was lost or stolen (several firefighters were in fact KGB personnel charged with removing sensitive material.)[7]

Construction of a new chancery began in 1979, with planning having started ten years prior as part of the Cold War détente but delayed due to American dissatisfaction with the sites and conditions, with the Soviet Union being perceived to have gotten the upper hand in negiotations. As part of a 1972 agreement, most of the compound was built by Soviet workers. A team led by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect Charles Bassett designed the new embassy, which was "self-contained", having residences, a school and a shopping center along with office space, and had a red brick exterior to "convey some American flavor". In 1985, the building's columns and walls were found to be riddled with listening devices to such an extent that classified information had to be handled in the old embassy. Construction was halted and all Soviet workers were kicked out. Additionally, Soviet diplomats were not allowed to occupy their new chancery in Washington, D.C. in retaliation. The standoff was resolved in 1994 when American workers were allowed to partially dismantle and rebuild the chancery, replacing the top three floors with four completely new ones. In 2000, the new building was finally opened with classified business confined to the upper floors, while standard consular business is conducted in the insecure lower floors.[8][9]

On a Russian television program, Igor Korotchenko, editor of a magazine called National Defense and a former specialist in Russia's military command, described the structure of the current embassy building as follows: "The N.S.A. is a global electronic vacuum cleaner, which monitors everything. Look at the top two floors of the new building of the U.S. Embassy—it's a huge antenna, which listens to the Moscow air."[10]

The New York Times reported on November 14, 2017 that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hired Elite Security Holdings, a Russian company associated with Victor Budanov, a KGB general involved in counterintelligence who was a boss of Vladimir Putin, to guard all United States diplomatic missions in Russia, which are located in four cities, including the United States Embassy in Moscow.[11][12][13]

Ambassadors

The position of United States Ambassador to Russia is currently held by John Sullivan.

See also

References
  1. "U.S. Embassy Moscow". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  2. "Key Officers, Sections & Offices". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  3. "U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  4. "U.S. Consulate General in Yekaterinburg". Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  5. Carpenter, David O. (2015). "The microwave syndrome or electro-hypersensitivity: historical background". Reviews on Environmental Health. 30 (4): 217–222. doi:10.1515/reveh-2015-0016. ISSN 2191-0308. PMID 26556835.
  6. "ESTIMATE OF DAMAGE TO U.S. FOREIGN POLICY INTERESTS". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. "The Embassy Moscow Fire of 1977". Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  8. Loeffler, Jane C. (2011). The architecture of diplomacy : building America's embassies (2nd ed.). New York: Princeton Architectural. pp. 242–243. ISBN 978-1-56898-984-6. OCLC 700033660.
  9. Lally, Kathy (2000-07-08). "U.S. Finally Opens Moscow Embassy / Building was delayed 15 years after Russians riddled it with bugs". SFGate. San Francisco: Hearst Communications. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  10. Barry, Ellen (June 28, 2013). "While N.S.A. Leaker Stays in Hiding, Russian TV Builds a Pedestal for Him". The New York Times. pp. 1–2. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  11. Higgins, Andrew (2017-11-14). "U.S. Hires Company With K.G.B. Link to Guard Moscow Embassy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  12. Delk, Josh (2017-11-14). "State Department hires security company with KGB ties". The Hill. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  13. "US to use Russia firm founded by KGB spy". BBC News. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
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