than they were previously. On 3 July 1974, the Labor government of Gough Whitlam decided to grant the de jure recognition of the incorporation of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union. The Australian ambassador to Moscow subsequently visited Tallinn, Estonia, in an effort to legitimise the move by the Whitlam government. This recognition was rescinded in 1975 by the Liberal-National government of Malcolm Fraser. Between the reopening of the Embassy to the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Embassy frequently provided foreign affairs assistance to the Australian Government. An example of this is the Australian Government's protest over the treatment of Russian nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov. Sakharov was arrested by the Soviets in 1980 for publicly protesting over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, when his wife was refused permission to travel to the United States for heart surgery, he began a four-month hunger strike in prison leading to his isolation in prison and authorities force-feeding Sakharov. In response to this, the Australian Government pressured the Soviet Government to release Sakharov from exile and allow his wife to travel abroad. The Embassy and Australian Ambassador to the Soviet Union raised the issue with Soviet authorities on multiple occasions following the Australian Government's official condemnation of the situation on 30 May 1984. Russian Federation (1991 – ) Australia recognised the Russian Federation as the legitimate successor state to the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 and the Australian Embassy in Moscow serves as the ambassadorial posting for Australia in Russia. As a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the embassy ceased services to the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, with these nations now being served by their own consulates. In 2002, the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer opened the current chancery and announced the opening of a second diplomatic mission in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The embassy also used to provide diplomatic and consular service with Ukraine until the Australian Government opened a permanent embassy in Kiev, Ukraine in November 2014. Modern usage The embassy currently provides services diplomatic relations with Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The embassy is broken into three sections: political, consular, and Austrade. The political section of the embassy is headed by the deputy head of mission and is tasked with advancing the bilateral relations between Australia and the