MFA: Ukraine embassy building in Moscow remains Kyiv property

The building housing the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow remains the state property of Kyiv, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

According to RBC, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the legal status of diplomatic premises is governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. Under the convention, the severance of diplomatic relations or the existence of an armed conflict does not affect the inviolability of diplomatic property.

Article 22 of the convention states that the premises of a diplomatic mission are inviolable and immune from search, requisition, seizure or enforcement actions. In addition, Article 45 obliges the host country to respect and protect diplomatic premises in the event of a break in diplomatic relations or the withdrawal of diplomats, including during armed conflict.

The Ukrainian embassy in Moscow is located at 18 Leontyevsky Lane. The mission stopped receiving citizens on February 24, 2022 — the day Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Kyiv was severing diplomatic relations with Moscow. In early March 2022, the Ukrainian flag was removed from the embassy premises in Moscow.

On February 10, 2024, Russia terminated the lease agreement with the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow. A similar decision had been taken a year earlier by Ukrainian authorities regarding the Russian embassy in Kyiv.

In the summer of 2025, the Moscow Arbitration Court, acting on claims filed by Moscow United Energy Company, ordered the Ukrainian embassy in the Russian capital to pay more than 40 million rubles in debt for heating and hot water. Ukraine did not send a representative to participate in the court hearings.

By Tamilla Hasanova