| Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ottawa Посольство Российской Федерации в Оттаве Ambassade de la Fédération de Russie à Ottawa | |
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| Address | 285 Charlotte Street Ottawa,Ontario K1N 8L5 |
| Coordinates | 45°25′47″N75°40′24″W / 45.429800°N 75.673259°W /45.429800; -75.673259 |
| Ambassador | Oleg Stepanov |
TheEmbassy of Russia in Canada is theRussianembassy inOttawa,Ontario, Canada, located at 285 Charlotte Street,[1] at the eastern terminus ofLaurier Avenue, built byW.E. Noffke.[2] To the south it looks out onStrathcona Park while to the east it looks out on theRideau River. Russia also maintainsconsulates inToronto andMontreal.
The site was originally given to theSoviet Union in 1942 and was contained in a large manor that had formerly belonged to J. Fred Booth, son oflumber baronJ.R. Booth. This manor had been the site of the marriage of Fred Booth's daughter Lois toPrince Erik of Denmark, son ofPrince Valdemar of Denmark. The building was expropriated by the government during theSecond World War for use by theRoyal Canadian Navy, but was instead handed over to the Soviets to house their growing legation. It was in this building thatIgor Gouzenko 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 thefire 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 MayorCharlotte Whitton 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 ministerPaul Martin, 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.[3]
The remains of the manor were demolished and the current starkClassic 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.[4] TheRCMP, then in charge of Canadian security service and in cooperation withMI5, infiltrated the construction site in an attempt tobug the building in an operation that was known as Operation Dew Worm.[5]
With the fall of the Soviet Union the building became the Russian embassy. The massive bust ofLenin was removed from the lobby and soon after the building's exterior was modified to make it less imposing.
In November 2022, the Russian Embassy got into a Twitter battle with three Canadian gay cabinet ministers over a 2022 Russian LGBTQ law.[6] The Russian ambassador has claimed that Russia does not interfere in internal Canadian affairs.[7]
In July 2007,Jeffrey Delisle, a formerSub-Lieutenant in theRoyal Canadian Navy walked into the Embassy of Russia in Ottawa and offered to sell secret information to the Russian military intelligence service; theGRU. He eventually passed on sensitive information from the top-secretSTONEGHOST 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.[8][9]
On 1 March 2022, during theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the embassy claimed thatThe Russian army does not occupy Ukrainian territory and takes all measures to preserve the lives and safety of civilians, without providing evidence.[10] 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.[11] Former Canadian Foreign Affairs MinisterMélanie Joly has referred to claims from the Russian Embassy as "misinformation" and "propaganda".[12]
Embassies inmain entries, whileconsulate generals in(sub-entries). | |
| Africa | |
| Americas | |
| Asia | |
| Europe | |
| Oceania | |
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| Organisations | |
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1 No diplomatic relations with Taiwan, functions as an informal diplomatic mission | |
