The Embassy of Russia in Canada is the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n
embassy
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...
in
Ottawa,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada, located at 285 Charlotte Street (also known as Free Ukraine Street),
at the eastern terminus of
Laurier Avenue
Laurier Avenue ''(French: Avenue Laurier)'' (Ottawa Road #48) is a central east west street running through Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as "Maria Street" (west of Waller) and "Theodore Street" (east of Waller), it was renamed in ...
, built by
W.E. Noffke
W. E. Noffke (1878–1964) was an architect in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, best known for his residential works. His houses, some of the grandest in the city of the time, are designed in a large variety of styles, most in an Eclecticism in art, eclec ...
. To the south it looks out on
Strathcona Park while to the east it looks out on the
Rideau River. Russia also maintains
consulate
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth c ...
s in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
.
History of the building
The site was originally given to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in 1942 and was contained in a large manor that had formerly belonged to J. Fred Booth, son of
lumber baron J.R. Booth. This manor had been the site of the marriage of Fred Booth's daughter Lois to
Prince Erik of Denmark, son of
Prince Valdemar of Denmark
Prince Valdemar of Denmark (27 October 1858 – 14 January 1939) was a member of the Danish royal family. He was the third son and youngest child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. He had a lifelong naval career. Early l ...
. The building was expropriated by the government during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
for use by the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
, but was instead handed over to the Soviets to house their growing legation. It was in this building that
Igor Gouzenko
Igor Sergeyevich Gouzenko (russian: Игорь Сергеевич Гузенко ; January 26, 1919 – June 25, 1982) was a cipher clerk for the Soviet embassy to Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, and a lieutenant of the GRU (Main Intelligence Direct ...
worked and from where he removed documents before defecting in 1945.
On January 1, 1956, a fire broke out on the third floor of the embassy. Embassy employees tried to put it out themselves and did not call the
fire department. They were unsuccessful and neighbours soon noticed smoke billowing from the building. When the fire department arrived the Soviets would not let them in, insisting they fight the fire from the sidewalk outside. Ottawa Mayor
Charlotte Whitton
Charlotte Elizabeth Whitton (March 8, 1896 – January 25, 1975) was a Canadian feminist and mayor of Ottawa. She was the first woman mayor of a major city in Canada, serving from 1951 to 1956 and again from 1960 to 1964. Whitton was a Cana ...
arrived at the blaze and demanded the fire department be let in, and threatened to have the embassy staff arrested. The dispute between the mayor and the ambassador was mediated by cabinet minister
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
, who had also come to the scene. Eventually, the fire fighters were allowed in, but only after the Soviets had removed large numbers of sensitive documents and equipment. It was too late, however, and the building was gutted.
The remains of the manor were demolished and the current stark
Classic Soviet style building was erected in its place. After the fire the embassy was relocated to 24 Blackburn Avenue, which housed the office of the Soviet commercial counsellor. The
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
, then in charge of Canadian security service and in cooperation with
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
, infiltrated the construction site in an attempt to
bug the building in an operation that was known as Operation Dew Worm. They concentrated on the northwest corner of the building, the logical site for a communications centre. The Soviets, however, built their communications centre in a sealed chamber elsewhere in the building and the bugs proved useless.
With the fall of the Soviet Union the building became the Russian embassy. The massive bust of
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
was removed from the lobby and soon after the building's exterior was modified to make it less imposing.
Jeffrey Delisle espionage case
In July 2007,
Jeffrey Delisle, a former
Sub-Lieutenant in the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
walked into the Embassy of Russia in Ottawa and offered to sell secret information to the Russian military intelligence service; the
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
. He eventually passed on sensitive information from the top-secret
STONEGHOST intelligence sharing network to Russia. Delisle continued handing over classified information to his GRU handler for 4 more years until December 2011 before being arrested in January 2012.
2022 Russian invasion in Ukraine
On 1 March 2022, during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
, the embassy claimed that ''The Russian army does not occupy Ukrainian territory and takes all measures to preserve the lives and safety of civilians'', without providing evidence. The Embassy claimed that the responsibility for all civilian deaths during the Russian attack, called "Special Military Operation" in Kremlin-controlled media, was on the Ukrainian side. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has referred to claims from the Russian Embassy as "misinformation" and "propaganda".
Homophobia
The Russian Embassy has been critical to homosexuality in Canada, especially three gay members of the Canadian Cabinet. The Russian ambassador has claimed that Russia does not interfere in internal Canadian affairs.
"The Canadian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian Ambassador"
Oreanda News, 29 November 2022
Soviet/Russian Ambassadors to Canada
* Georgy Zarubin 1941-1942
* Fedor Tarasovich Gusev 1942-1943
* Dimitri S. Chuvahin 1950s
* Boris Miroshnichenko ?-1973
* Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev
Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secreta ...
1973-1983
* Aleksei A. Rodionov 1983-?
* Vitaly Churkin
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin ( rus, Вита́лий Ива́нович Чу́ркин, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕurkʲɪn; 21 February 1952 – 20 February 2017) was a Russian diplomat and former child actor. Churkin served as Russia ...
1998-2003
* Georgiy Mamedov
Georgiy Enverovich Mamedov (russian: Георгий Энверович Мамедов) (born 1947 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian diplomat of Azerbaijani descent, and one of Russia's foremost authorities on the United States and Canada. In the 1990s ...
2003-2014
* Alexander Darchiev 2014–Present
External links
Official site
Notes
References
{{Diplomatic missions in Canada
Ottawa
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
Canada–Russia relations
Canada–Soviet Union relations