Headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate

Headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate
Штаб Главного разведывательного управления
View of the building from Ulitsa Grizodubovoy
Alternative names	The Aquarium
General information
Address	Ulitsa Grizodubovoy 3, Khoroshevskoye, 101000
Town or city	Moscow
Country	Russian Federation
Coordinates	55°46′56″N37°31′28″E / 55.782284°N 37.524455°E / 55.782284; 37.524455
Current tenants	Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU)
Renovated	2006
Cost	₽9.5 billion
Other information
Public transit access	Polezhayevskaya

The Headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate, commonly known as the Aquarium, ^[1] is the headquarters of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and is located at Khodynka Field, the site of Moscow's first airport.

The building was extensively renovated in the early 2000s.^{[ citation needed ]}

Name

The site's colloquial name of the 'Aquarium' is supposedly a wordplay on the GRU's ability to see what is happening in the world from inside the building, and was first introduced into popular usage by GRU defector Viktor Suvorov's 1985 semi-autobiographical book on the workings of the GRU, Aquarium.^{[ citation needed ]}

"For the basis of this unusual name, as we can assume, he [Suvorov] took, first, the appearance of the main building of the directorate made of glass and concrete, and, second, attempted to emphasize that everything that is happening in the world can be seen from it."

Gallery

• 
  Russian president Vladimir Putin in the building's lobby in 2006
• 
  Emblem in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
• 
  Vladimir Putin exits his helicopter on the roof of the GRU headquarters
• 
  Vladimir Putin uses a shooting range inside the GRU headquarters during a 2006 visit

References

1. "The GRU, Putin's not-so-secret service". France 24. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2025.