text: The embassy was designed by well-known Soviet architect , who designed the State Kremlin Palace and a number of other buildings in Moscow. The residential building, the school, the kindergarten and sports grounds were all complete in 1979. Administrative and ceremonial buildings were finished in 1985.
  In the late 1980s, the FBI and the National Security Agency built a tunnel under the compound for espionage purposes, but it was never successfully exploited due to FBI agent Robert Hanssen disclosing information about the operation to the KGB.
  In September 1994, during his visit to the United States, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton inaugurated the new ceremonial building of the Russian Embassy, at Mount Alto.
  Events
  In 1985, Vitaly Yurchenko redefected here, after eluding his handlers at the Au Pied de Cochon restaurant in Georgetown.
  On February 27, 2018, a one-block section of Wisconsin Avenue in front of the embassy was renamed Boris Nemtsov Plaza in honor of Boris Nemtsov, an opposition activist and vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was shot dead by assassins while walking on a bridge near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015. The move to rename the street was initiated by Senator Marco Rubio, who commented that the renaming serves as "an enduring reminder to Vladimir Putin and those who support him that they cannot use murder and intimidation to suppress dissent."