Seattle’s Russian Consular Residence has been targeted by protesters and graffiti in the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine though the U.S. State Department tells CHS the Madison Park neo-classical mansion remains shuttered and locked down.

“The facility is closed, and entry or access to the property will be granted only with permission of the Office of Foreign Missions,” a State Department spokesperson said.

Despite being empty for four years after the expulsion of the diplomats who called the E Madison mansion home, protesters have targeted the property with graffiti and messages of support for the Ukrainian people.

The office of Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has not responded to CHS about the protests and the status of the historic multimillion Seattle property the Russians still claim to own.

In a statement to Capitol Hill Seattle in 2020, Antonov lamented the closure of what was the only Russian consulate on the West Coast and the lockout at the E Madison residence.

“We presume that when the situation in our bilateral relations stabilizes, there will be a positive decision on returning this beautiful residence to its rightful owner as well as on reinstatement of Russian consular presence on the West Coast,” Antonov wrote.

In late April 2018, CHS found a bizarre moving day underway with Russian diplomats and family members on hand as movers loaded belongings, gear, and equipment into a small convoy of trucks waiting in the alley behind the E Madison residence. U.S. officials had given diplomats until April 24th that year to leave the Madison Park property that had been used as the residence for the Russian government’s Consulate General in Seattle since the U.S. Office of Foreign Missions acquired the property in what King County records say was a $1.1 million transaction in April 1994. On moving day in 2018, the Russian flag still flew above the historic mansion.

The shuttering of the consulate came on the heels of an alleged Kremlin-backed nerve agent attack in the United Kingdom. In response, the U.S. and the Trump administration joined several European nations in expelling Russian diplomats. U.S. officials said that a Russian outpost in the Seattle area may be the perfect location to spy on Boeing, Microsoft, and several military bases.

Are there spies among us? For sure. Probably Russian and more. CHS reported here on Belmont Ave E couple Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills who were really Russian agents Mikhail Kutsik and Natalia Pereverzeva — part of an ambitious multiyear spy operation carried out by at least 11 deep cover Russian agents in the U.S., the FBI said. In one secret search of the conspirators’ Seattle apartment in 2006, FBI agents found shortwave radio equipment and spiral notebooks filled with seemingly random numbers. Agents concluded they were codes to decipher radiograms.

In 2018, U.S. officials publicly offered no evidence that the Madison Park consular residence was involved in any related intelligence gathering.

Four years after his administration’s expulsion of the Madison Park diplomats, Donald Trump has been removed from the White House and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader whose “no blackmail” conversation with the Republican became a centerpiece of Trump’s first impeachment, is being celebrated for his bravery in the face of Russia’s brutal attack.

The old Hyde House mansion, meanwhile, remains empty and the grounds, mostly quiet except for the increased presence of security guards in place to protect the 112-year-old mansion and its grounds.

The Department of State’s Office of Foreign Missions in charge of managing the facility “is following its standard procedures to secure and maintain the property in keeping with our responsibilities,” the State Department spokesperson said.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.