Negotiations and bugging Construction of a new U.S. embassy in the
Presnensky District of
Moscow began in 1979. Planning had started ten years prior as part of the
Cold War détente but was delayed due to American dissatisfaction with the sites and conditions. The Soviet Union was perceived to have gotten the upper hand in negotiations. For instance, 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": it included residences, a school and shopping center along with office space. The embassy also had a red brick exterior to "convey some American flavor". In 1985, the building's columns and walls were found to be so riddled with listening devices that
classified information had to be handled in the old embassy. Construction was halted and all Soviet workers were removed from construction work. Additionally, in retaliation, Soviet diplomats were not allowed to occupy their new embassy in Washington, D.C. The standoff was resolved in 1994 when American workers were allowed to partially dismantle and rebuild the embassy, replacing the top three floors of the New Office Building (NOB) with four completely new ones.
Expanding embassy complex In May 2000, the New Office Building (NOB) was finally completed, opening the following month. Classified business was confined to the upper floors, while standard consular business was conducted in the insecure lower floors. The perimeter of the entire complex is . In 2013, construction began on a new adjoining building with a total area of . Called the New Office Annex, it opened on January 16, 2018, and houses consular services, other embassy sections and staff housing. The Russian
Vedomosti newspaper, citing a source in the Russian special services, stated that the embassy is likely to host the local server of
XKeyscore, an Internet surveillance system.
Security According to a
New York Times report on November 14, 2017, 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. U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia, including the United States Embassy in Moscow, are located in four cities.
New street name On June 22, 2022, in response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine and the renaming of the street on which the Russian embassy in the U.S. is located, the U.S. embassy in Moscow block and address was renamed Donetsk People's Republic Square, according to the Moscow Mayor's Office. Subsequently, the embassy website refused to use the new name in its contact information, instead listing its official address as "U.S. Embassy Moscow 55,75566° N, 37,58028° E". ==Other properties==