On October 3, 1853, Andrey Eduardovich Stekl became the consul followed by Peter Kostromitinov from December 28, 1853 until 1862.[5] Kostromitinov was an agent of the Russian-American Company and a manager at Fort Ross.[6][7]
From 1862 to 1875, Martin Fedorovich Klinkovstrom was the consul followed by Gustav Newbaum - who was an entrepreneur from the Alaska Commercial Company.[5] While Newbaum was consul, the consulate was located initially at 411 California Street and then later at 418 California Street.[5]
From April 6, 1915 until the February Revolution, Artemy Markovich Vydotsev[ru] was the last consul of the Russian Empire.[5] In November 1924 due to lack of funding the consulate on California Street was closed, which led to the usage of William Westerfeld House as the consulate.[5][8][9] From 1926 until 1933 Vydotsev and Arthur-Karl Yulievich von Landesen served as consuls on a voluntary basis.[5][10]
Soviet Union
On November 16, 1933, the Roosevelt-Litvinov agreement was signed in which both sides said they were prepared to negotiate a consular convention.[11][5][12] This led to the first consulate of the Soviet Union in San Francisco being opened on 2563 Divisadero Street in April 1934, with Moses Grigorievich Galkovich as consul from 1934-1937.[5][12] At the outbreak of World War II, the consulate quietly funded isolationist groups such as American Peace Committee, which were committed to keeping America out the war and attempting to block aid to Britain.[citation needed]
On August 19, 1948, the US State Department requested that Jacob Lomakin - who was now consulate general in New York - be recalled by the Soviets due to his connection with the Kasenkina case.[19] The Soviets responded by closing their New York and San Francisco consulates on August 25, 1948, and on the basis of reciprocity, the Soviets ordered the US consulate in Vladivostok closed and plans for the Leningrad consulate were shelved.[20][19][21][22][8][5][23]
On June 1, 1964, in Moscow the Soviet Union and United States signed a consular convention, allowing for both countries to open consulates outside their national capitals.[5][12] The Soviets were believed to be considering New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, while the United States was considering Leningrad and Odessa.[12] The consular convention was ratified on June 13, 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson, and came into force on July 13, 1968.[5][24]
In 1971 Alexander Ivanovich Zinchuk became the de facto consul for USSR.[5] Consular relations between the USSR and the US were restored only after 24 years in 1972 during the extensive dialogue between the Soviet Union and United States that year.[25] On June 23, 1973, the consulate moved into its current location, a six-story former apartment building at 2790 Green Street.[26] Zinchuk became the official consul for the USSR in San Francisco.[26]
Russian Federation
In 2011 the consulate bought new granite headstones, for a total of $20,000, for Russian sailors who died fighting the San Francisco Fire of 1863.[27] The graves were installed on Mare Island in Vallejo, California.[27] The city government protested the plan, saying that it goes against historical preservation.[27]
On August 31, 2017, the State Department ordered the consulate closed by September 2, 2017.[30][31] Before the consulate was closed, smoke was seen billowing out of the building, suggesting sensitive materials were being destroyed.[32][33][34]
As of early 2025 the US and Russian governments are in talks with a view to reopening the consulate.[35][36]
Espionage
In 1987, Ivan N. Miroshkin of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported that the consulate had been bugged by the United States using a secret tunnel the United States had bored under the consulate.[34][37]
In 1984, a United States government report indicated that there may have been approximately 50 Soviet spies operating out of the consulate, primarily targeting Silicon Valley.[34][38] Russian diplomats based out of the consulate have also been reportedly mapping where underground nodes connected the national fiber-optic communication network, and it was alleged that the network of antennas and other electronic communication equipment on the roof of the consulate were being used to transmit information to submarines or trawlers located off the Pacific coast in international waters.[34][39]
↑ Lall, Vinod K.; Khemchand, Daniel (1997). "Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities". Encyclopaedia of international law. New Delhi: Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. pp.48–49. ISBN81-7488-577-3. Retrieved October 10, 2009.
↑ Sernoffsky, Evan; Wildermuth, John (December 29, 2016). "Russian diplomats in San Francisco among those told to leave U.S."San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 30, 2016. The State Department didn't immediately identify the diplomats being expelled or say how many were working in San Francisco. All 35, department officials said, 'were acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status,' which is political-speak for spying.
↑ Utehs, Katie (December 30, 2016). "Consulate says four employees expelled from San Francisco". KGO-TV. Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Petrov confirmed that four of the 35 diplomats asked to leave the country work at the San Francisco consulate. Family members of those employees are also leaving [...] Petrov says the consulate's chef is included in the expulsion.
↑ The Associated Press (September 1, 2017). "The Latest: San Francisco Russia consulate starts move-out". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Acrid, black smoke has been seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco a day after the Trump administration ordered its closure on 2-day notice due to espionage and amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia. The building was seized by the FBI and the consulate closed but residents in the building were allowed to stay until October 1, 2017. The building has a large number of apartments occupied by Russian employees. The Russian flag is still flying on top of the building as of September 24, 2017.
↑ Keller, Bill (April 10, 1987). "Soviet Charges U.S. WITH Bugging". The New York Times. Another official, Ivan N. Miroshkin of the Foreign Ministry's Security Service, said some of the bugging devices had been found at the new Soviet compound in Washington in the last few days, and others had been collected earlier at the consulate in San Francisco, in apartments of Soviet employees of the United Nations, in the trade mission in Washington, and in a country house outside Washington. [...] He said security officers had discovered a tunnel with listening devices under the San Francisco consulate.
↑ "The Soviet consulate general in San Francisco, located in..." UPI. October 12, 1984. In recent years there have been frequent reports that 50 or more spies report to the San Francisco consulate general. Experts on electronic warfare say the consulate is the collection base for extensive electronic surveillance gear operated by spies at work in California, especially in the high-technology Silicon Valley south of San Francisco.
↑ Watkins, Ali (June 1, 2017). "Russia escalates spy games after years of U.S. neglect". Politico. Retrieved December 14, 2017. The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One was found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official, another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert. Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic cables tend to run.
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