Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU)
Identification
The metadata most plausibly matches the Moscow headquarters of Russia’s Main Directorate of the General Staff (GU/GRU) on Khoroshevskoye Shosse in the Khodynka/Khoroshevsky area. U.S. Treasury sanctions listings identify the service at Khoroshevskoye Shosse 76, Moscow, while open-source reporting tied to Russian legal-registry data places the headquarters at 76B; that suffix discrepancy remains visible across public sources. The same registry-based reporting also links the address to military unit 45807. ([ofac.treasury.gov](https://ofac.treasury.gov/system/files/126/sdnnew18.pdf))
Command
As of 15 May 2025, Reuters and Interfax identified Igor Kostyukov as chief/head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff during the Istanbul delegation episode, supporting the metadata’s commander attribution. Earlier reporting from November 2018 recorded his appointment as head of Russia’s military intelligence service. ([reutersconnect.com](https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/igor-kostyukov-exits-the-consulate-general-of-the-russian-federation-in-istanbul/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjU6bmV3c21sX1JDMkVJRUE1WkdDRw))
Facility
The current headquarters complex was publicly opened in November 2006. A CRS report cites a Kremlin press release on President Putin’s visit to the new GRU headquarters on 8 November 2006; contemporaneous RIA reporting said the building was fully autonomous and designed so personnel could work, live, and use support facilities inside one secure complex. Open-source photo coverage from the visit confirms a purpose-built headquarters rather than a routine office site. ([s3.documentcloud.org](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20417616/r46616.pdf?t=1606492194840))
Operational role
This site is the central headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces’ military intelligence service under the General Staff. CRS describes the GRU/GU as a large Ministry of Defense intelligence organization subordinate to the General Staff, and U.S. cyber-related sanctions documents use the same Moscow headquarters address for the service and its aliases. That makes this location the key publicly identified institutional node for GRU leadership and administration. ([nam-sism.org](https://www.nam-sism.org/Articoli/14.%20CRISTADORO%20L%E2%80%99intelligence%20militare%20russa%20Il%20GRU%20nel%20decennio%202010-2020.pdf?utm_source=openai))
Geographic setting
The headquarters sits in Moscow’s Khodynka/Khoroshevsky defense-industrial belt. Older but still useful FAS location reporting places the compound beside the former Khodynka airfield and near major aerospace design and military facilities, placing the HQ inside a dense military-industrial district in the capital. Public sources reviewed do not reliably confirm the compound’s exact internal layout, underground infrastructure, or full resident sub-unit list. ([irp.fas.org](https://irp.fas.org/world/russia/gru/aquarium.htm))