The Russian embassy in Berlin is the headquarters of the diplomatic representation of the Russian Federation in Germany. It is located in the center of the district of the district of the same name and occupies a building complex that consists of the main building Unter den Linden 63–65 as well as several administrative and residential buildings on the Behren- and Glinkastraße.
The exchange of constant envoys between Prussia and Russia occurred
in the 1820s. In Berlin, the Imperial-Russian legation established
itself in the street Unter den Linden 7 in 1837. For this purpose,
Russia had acquired a property between Unter den Linden and
Behrenstrasse with a two-storey Rococo palace (Palais Kurland) for its
constant diplomatic mission under the envoy Alexandre de Ribaupierre.
This house was built in 1734 and has been owned by the Princess Amalie
of Prussia since 1764. The following year had it rebuilt by Johann
Boumann. The historical name of the building moves from the period from
1805 to 1837, in which it was owned by Duchess Dorothea of Kurland.
After the purchase, Russia had the property expanded and changed the
property by Eduard Knoblauch, and above all the building was increased
on three floors in 1840/1841. It now offered diplomatic apartments, law
firms, ballrooms and an apartment for the tsar during his stays in
Berlin. After the renovation, the palace, which was rebuilt again in
1874/1875 by Gustav Knoblauch and Hermann Wex, served for around 100
years - with the exception of 1914–1918, when the diplomatic
relationships between the two states were interrupted during the First
World War - as the seat of the Russian and later Soviet message. After
the German attack on the Soviet Union in World War II in 1941 and the
designation of all Soviet diplomats, the building was cleared and
sealed. In June 1942, the Reich Ministry moved into the building for the
occupied eastern areas, which was under the direction of the Nazi chef
ideologist Alfred Rosenberg. The building was destroyed in February 1944
during the Allied air raids. Some files of the East Ministry, which were
under the ruins in a tank cabinet, could only be recovered a year later,
although it is still unclear why an American command in the Soviet
sector could recover.
The exchange of constant envoys between Prussia and Russia occurred
in the 1820s. In Berlin, the Imperial-Russian legation established
itself in the street Unter den Linden 7 in 1837. For this purpose,
Russia had acquired a property between Unter den Linden and
Behrenstrasse with a two-storey Rococo palace (Palais Kurland) for its
constant diplomatic mission under the envoy Alexandre de Ribaupierre.
This house was built in 1734 and has been owned by the Princess Amalie
of Prussia since 1764. The following year had it rebuilt by Johann
Boumann. The historical name of the building moves from the period from
1805 to 1837, in which it was owned by Duchess Dorothea of Kurland.
After the purchase, Russia had the property expanded and changed the
property by Eduard Knoblauch, and above all the building was increased
on three floors in 1840/1841. It now offered diplomatic apartments, law
firms, ballrooms and an apartment for the tsar during his stays in
Berlin. After the renovation, the palace, which was rebuilt again in
1874/1875 by Gustav Knoblauch and Hermann Wex, served for around 100
years - with the exception of 1914–1918, when the diplomatic
relationships between the two states were interrupted during the First
World War - as the seat of the Russian and later Soviet message. After
the German attack on the Soviet Union in World War II in 1941 and the
designation of all Soviet diplomats, the building was cleared and
sealed. In June 1942, the Reich Ministry moved into the building for the
occupied eastern areas, which was under the direction of the Nazi chef
ideologist Alfred Rosenberg. The building was destroyed in February 1944
during the Allied air raids. Some files of the East Ministry, which were
under the ruins in a tank cabinet, could only be recovered a year later,
although it is still unclear why an American command in the Soviet
sector could recover.
After the end of the war and with the admission of diplomatic
relationships with the GDR, the Soviet Union decided to build a new
embassy building on the property with the purchase of neighboring
areas-now in East Berlin-and an architectural collective around Anatoli
Strischewskij, A. Lebedinskij, secured and the Latvian builder Friedrich
Skujin (Frīdrihs Skujiņš) with the reconstruction. The Berlin architect
Fritz Bornemann also participated in his design. A three -part
symmetrical building was built from 1949 to 1953. The embassy building,
which was newly created in the period of late alinism, is kept in the
style of socialist classicism with elements of Berlin classicism early
19th century. A few years later, this building style was also pioneering
when the Stalinallee (since 1961: Karl-Marx-Allee). Inside, the building
was very magnificently equipped, including the dome hall used for
celebrations and receptions, which is located directly under the roof
structure of the building center and was plentiful with glass mosaics, a
mirror hall, a conference room. The ceremonial inauguration of the new
embassy was officially on the 35th anniversary of the October Revolution
on November 7, 1952. The last work continued until next year.
In
the following decades, the building also served as the headquarters of
the diplomatic representation of the Soviet Union in the GDR also to
carry out international diplomatic meetings; In 1954 the conference of
Foreign Minister of the Four Significance (Soviet Union, USA, Great
Britain, France) took place here. From 1970 to 1971 the same states
acted the four -powers of Berlin. In the 1960s and 1970s, several
residential and commercial buildings were built near the main building,
which, in addition to the premises of the actual message, also housed
institutions such as the Soviet foreign trade, a Russian school abroad
and the seat of the then state airline Aeroflot.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the entire building
complex passed into the possession of the Russian Federation, since it
took over all rights and obligations of the USSR at the level of
international law. During the 1990s, the embassy complex in Berlin
served as a branch of the Russian embassy at the Viktorshöhe in Bonn
after the political turn. At the end of the 1990s, the Russian
government had the embassy building basic renovation, including the main
building Unter den Linden. One of the residential buildings was rebuilt
in Behrenstrasse and a consular department was set up. After the move of
the Russian embassy from Bonn to Berlin until 2000, the complex again
serves as the headquarters of Russia's diplomatic representation in
Germany. The area used in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1976 to
1991 as a Soviet (and from 1991 to 1999 as a Russian) message in the
Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn is now the seat of the Consulate
General of the Russian Federation.
From 2001 to 2009 the annual
summer ball among the ambassadors Sergei Borissowitsch Krylow and
Vladimir Vladimirowitsch Kotenjow (2004–2009) took place in the embassy
building.
In the course of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the
Federal Government pointed out 40 Russian employees of the embassy, in
which the protection of the constitution assumed that they were only
accredited as a diplomat, but actually spied on Russian secret services.
It is a three-part symmetrical building with a stone facade and
two elongated side wings around a middle section crowned by a roof
cornice with an attic attachment with a parade entrance and honorary
courtyard. There are four sandstone figures on the parent block of
the middle block and an open column lantern. The main building and
the side wing are designed four floors, their facades are preserved
from the first to the fourth floor. The second and third floor are
each summarized by round arch windows. The semicircular columns rest
on the rustled ground floor cladding and are connected to decorated
parapets in their foot area. Above the main entrance can be seen
with flags and cords as well as oak leaves. The centrally arranged
coat of arms is the former state coat of arms of the Soviet Union.
The main entrance is also very elaborate: over three parallel
double-wing doors with glass and metal jewelry elements there are
decorated and curved sandstone consoles. These carry a balcony for
representation purposes carried out over the entire portal width.
Kandelaber are placed on the side between the doors.
The
delimitation of the embassy area to the street Unter den Linden is
carried out by a wall interrupted in the middle area, which
optically absorbs the cuboiding of the building ground floor. The
middle area in the length of the courtyard is separated from the
street by means of a wrought iron fence. The building complex along
the boulevard Unter den Linden is around 185 meters long and takes a
width of about 35 meters with the Honor. The built -up area
including the later added buildings in Behrenstrasse and, with the
addition of the buildings in Glinkastraße, 125 meters × 240 meters.
In 2021 there was an unexplained death of a second secretary of the Russian embassy at the embassy site. Since the dead diplomatic status had and an autopsy of the body was rejected by the Russian embassy by German forensic medicine, the public prosecutor was not able to carry out any death investigation and handed over the body of the message. The Russian message spoke of an accident. German security authorities had classified the man as a hidden employee of a Russian domestic secret service. According to the media, the dead man was found on the sidewalk in front of the embassy site. They reported on a fall from the building of the embassy complex.