Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Revolution, Nonrecognition, and Contact

Soviet diplomacy grew out of the Bolshevik revolution and civil war, which overturned the imperial government and disrupted Russia’s relations abroad. Washington opposed the new government but did not sever every form of contact. During the famine of the early 1920s, the American Relief Administration worked with Soviet authorities to distribute food; American firms also sought business during the New Economic Policy. [12]

Recognition and a Resident Embassy

The United States recognized the Soviet government on November 16, 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov exchanged messages agreeing to normal diplomatic relations and an exchange of ambassadors. Alexander Troyanovsky presented his credentials in Washington on January 8, 1934. The embassy brought Soviet representation into a city where the former Russian government's property had remained under a custodian long after its ambassador retired. During the recognition talks, the State Department arranged the removal of the old embassy records with Litvinov's knowledge. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 brought immediate requests for help through Ambassador Konstantin Umansky. At a Washington meeting on June 26, Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles promised prompt consideration of requests for material assistance. Umansky raised blocked funds, export licenses, and the shortage of ships available to carry supplies to Vladivostok. He also sought instructions from Moscow identifying what aid his government wanted, while Welles offered favorable consideration of requests for communications engineers and other technical specialists. [5]

Exchanges, Crisis Diplomacy, and Summit Preparations

The embassy also negotiated sustained contacts between the two societies. Ambassador Georgi Zarubin and American representative William S. B. Lacy began talks in Washington in October 1957 that produced the January 27, 1958 agreement on cultural, technical, and educational exchanges. Its subjects included science and technology, radio and television, and visits by specialists. [6]

During the Cuban missile crisis, Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin carried messages through a much smaller circle. On October 27, 1962, Attorney General Robert Kennedy summoned him to the Justice Department to discuss the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba and American assurances against invasion. Kennedy warned that further incidents could leave the two governments little time to prevent escalation. His written report rejected an explicit bargain over American missiles in Turkey, although a deleted sentence referred to resolving the matter after four or five months. [7]

Embassy work extended beyond formal meetings at the chancery. On December 4, 1987, Ambassador Yuri Dubinin invited National Security Adviser Colin Powell to a restaurant dinner to discuss the approaching Washington summit. Powell brought CIA Deputy Director Robert Gates, who sat beside Soviet intelligence official Vladimir Kryuchkov. Their conversation covered reforms in the Soviet Union, security for the visit, and unresolved questions about missile photographs needed for the treaty negotiations. Dubinin used the dinner to raise practical summit business with Powell while the intelligence officials spoke directly across the table. [8]

The Compound and the End of Soviet Representation

The Soviet Union leased Mount Alto on Wisconsin Avenue in 1969 to build a larger diplomatic establishment. The state dissolved before the completed ceremonial building opened in 1994. Its final Washington ambassador, Viktor Komplektov, continued into the Russian Federation's representation and was formally relieved from that post by Yeltsin in March 1992. The new government inherited both the embassy project and a serving ambassador. [9] [10] [1] [11]

Independence movements, the failed August 1991 coup, and agreements among republican leaders displaced the central government. American diplomacy consequently turned to recognition of the separate republics and the security of the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. The Russian Federation continued the Washington mission, while the other successor states established their own relations and embassies. [13]

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