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 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 on Novinskiy Boulevard, which still remains a part of the embassy compound.

Organization

The embassy consists of the following sections:
In addition, representatives of several U.S. federal agencies work in the embassy.
The embassy oversees two Consulates General in Russia: Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.

Building

During the period 1953–1976 the Soviets irradiated the US Embassy in Moscow with microwaves in the Moscow Signal incident.
In 1964, covert listening devices were discovered within the US Embassy in Moscow.
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.
Construction of a new chancery began in 1979. In 1985, the building's columns, which had been built by Soviet workers, were found to be riddled with listening devices, to such an extent that classified information had to be handled in the old embassy. In retaliation, Soviet diplomats were not allowed to occupy their new chancery in Washington, D.C. The standoff was resolved in 1994 when American workers were allowed to partially dismantle and rebuild the chancery with four completely new upper floors. 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.
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."
The New York Times reported on November 14, 2017 that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hired a Russian company with a KGB link to Vladimir Putin to guard the United States Embassy in Moscow.

Ambassadors

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