| U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg | |
| Location: | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Address: | Central District, 15 Furshtatskaya Street |
| Coord: | 59.9447°N 30.3544°W |
| Closing: | March 30, 2018 |
| Website: | Archived official website |
The U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg (Russian: Генеральное консульство США в Санкт-Петербурге) is a former diplomatic mission of the USA in Saint Petersburg, providing consular services to Russian and American citizens in Northwestern Russia. The consulate general ceased its operations on March 30, 2018, at the request of the Russian authorities.[1]
The official American diplomatic representation in the Russian Empire was originally located in Saint Petersburg since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1780. However, the credentials of Francis Dana were not accepted by the Russian court, thus making John Quincy Adams the first accredited Ambassador of the United States to Russia, who presented his credentials to Tsar Alexander I of Russia on November 5, 1809.[2] The U.S. Embassy in Russia existed until 1919, when Ambassador David Francis left Russia during the Russian Civil War.
It resumed its work in 1933 in the USSR and in its new capital – Moscow. The U.S. Consulate General in Leningrad was opened in 1972 in the former revenue house of Schreyer.[3] The consular district included ten subjects of the Russian Federation, covering, in addition to Saint Petersburg, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Vologda Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Leningrad Oblast, Murmansk Oblast, Novgorod Oblast, and Pskov Oblast, Republic of Karelia, and Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
In March 2018, following the Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the U.S. authorities announced that the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Seattle must cease its operations. In response, Russia decided to close the U.S. Consulate in Saint Petersburg and expel 60 American diplomats from Russia.[4] [5] On March 30, diplomats removed office equipment, paintings, and furniture from the building, and on the evening of March 31, the mission staff removed the American flag from the building.
The Consulate General of the U.S. in Petersburg included: a consular section, political-economic section, press and culture department, U.S. Commercial Service, and representation of the United States Department of Agriculture.[6]
| Term | Consul | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002—2005 | [7] | ||
| 2005—2008 | Mary A. Krueger | [8] | |
| 2008—2011 | Sheila Gwaltney | [9] | |
| 2011—2014 | Bruce Turner | [10] | |
| 2014—2015 | Courtney Nemroff acting | [11] | |
| 2015—2018 | Thomas Leary | [12] |