Phone +7 495 728-50-00 | Ambassador John F. Tefft | |
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Location Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8
Presnensky District, Moscow, Russia Opened June 2000; 16 years ago (2000-06) Address Bolshoy Devyatinskiy pereulok, 8, Moskva, Russia, 121099 Hours Closed now Thursday8AM–8PMFriday8AM–8PMSaturdayClosedSundayClosedMonday8AM–8PMTuesday8AM–8PMWednesday8AM–8PM Similar British Embassy, Embassy of Ukraine, Canadian Embassy, Estonian Embassy, Embassy of Belgium Profiles | ||
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 embassy complex is located in the Presnensky District in the city center of Moscow. Its address is: Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8. The US citizen center is located nearby at 21 Novinskiy Bulvar.
Contents
Organization
The embassy consists of the following sections:
In addition, representatives of a number of U.S. federal agencies work in the embassy.
The embassy oversees the following Consulates General in Russia: Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.
Building
Construction of a new embassy building began in 1979. In 1985, the building's columns, which had been built by Soviet workers, were found to be riddled with covert 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 embassy in Washington, DC. The standoff was resolved in 1994 when American workers were allowed to partially dismantle and rebuild the embassy 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."
Ambassadors
The position of United States Ambassador to Russia is currently held by John F. Tefft, a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer who was recalled from retirement to serve his fourth ambassadorship.