About the Mission

The Agreement on trade, commercial and economic cooperation between the USSR and the European Communities was signed on 18 December 1989. This could be considered as a starting point in official relations between Russia and the European Union, which became a legal successor of the European Community under the Treaty of Lisbon.

Since that time our relations have been raised to a strategic level. The European Union has become our principal trade and economic partner and one of our most important foreign-policy allies. We are tied by our complementary economies and shared responsibility for stability on the European continent, as well as solution of global problems, such as the global financial and economic crisis and climate change. The relations between Russia and the European Union are rooted in the European historical and cultural tradition, commitment to humanistic and democratic values.

The Permanent Mission has as its objective to:

• foster by diplomatic means the development of Russia-EU cooperation in political, trade and economic, scientific and technical, cultural and other spheres of mutual interest, assist national authorities, NGOs and businesses in Russia in establishing contacts with representatives of official bodies, NGOs and businesses of the EU;
• distribute official information on foreign and domestic policy of the Russian Federation, its social and economic, cultural and spiritual life;
• participate in the preparation and realization of intergovernmental exchanges on the top and high levels, and visits of official delegations.

Russian Permanent Representatives to the European Union (European Communities):

The history of the Mission’s building

The main building of the Permanent Mission (31-33, Boulevard du Régent, Brussels, 1000) was constructed in 1890s (or, according to some documents, odd in 1860) following the project of Henri Maki. It is a remarkable example of the eclecticism, typical for the most prestigious areas of Brussels in the early 20th century, and represents a piece of traditional architecture still preserved in the downtown. The building has a total of 2,259 square meters. It is 42 meters long with some of the rooms designed in the Louis XIV and XV style. One of them is decorated with stamped leather. The stairs are adorned with wrought iron, and the walls host paintings and tapestries of the early 20th century.

In 1993, the Brussels Executive Council recognized the building as a historic monument. Following this, the Mission preserves with all due responsibility its appearance and interior.

On 11 January 1946 the Soviet Union purchased the building from the joint-stock company “Société Technique, Industrielle et Financière” (STIF). Earlier, the premises had belonged, as a common property, to René-Cyrille-Léopold Lacourt, merchant from Willebroeck; Léopold-Albert Castelain, owner of a glass factory in Manage; Juliette-Louise-Pierre-Maria Roels, spouse of Rheinhold-Ghislain-Anna-Antoine von Lennep, barrister from Antwerp; Alphonsine Mouligneau, widow of Léon-Paul-Gustave-Marie Van Diepenbeek; and Anne-Carolina-Hendrika-Christiana Lauwens, widow of Jan Julius Wyckmans from Mechelen.

The latter bought the building in 1944 from Baron Frédéric Ernest Louis Marie Brugmann de Walzin who inherited it from his father – Baron Alfred-Victor-Maurice Brugmann (originally the building was a hotel Brugmann), who bought it in his turn in May 1900 from Charles Maximilien Jacques Comte de Lalaing, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Belgium.

During German occupation the building served as the German headquarters and after the liberation of Brussels in 1944 Canadian armed forces were stationed there. An officer’s club, bar and dance halls were organized in the building. Accommodating the house to their needs, they transformed the building and as a result walls, floor and ceilings were seriously damaged. Upon its purchase by the USSR, the building was completely renovated in two years.

Starting from 1946 this building was occupied by the USSR Trade Mission. In 1988 it was passed to the Permanent Mission of the USSR to the European Communities.