Russia to close branches of Germany's Goethe-Institut after drone spat, foreign minister says
Lavrov said the closures are retaliation after Germany blamed Moscow for a drone incident and shut two Russian cultural sites, escalating the diplomatic dispute.
- On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Russia will close Germany's Goethe-Institut cultural centers following Germany's accusation that Russia caused a drone incident at the Leipzig and Halle Airport.
- Germany's response to the incident included closing a Russian cultural center in Berlin and a consulate in Bonn, which Lavrov stated Germany "deliberately took this step" to provoke the closure.
- The centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg had remained open "despite all the Ukrainian complications in our relations with the West," Lavrov added, with the first institute opening in Moscow in 1992.
- On Wednesday, Lavrov's deputy Alexander Grushko warned Russia would retaliate "very soon" for the Bonn consulate closure, echoing Russia's 2018 British Council closure following a diplomatic spat with Britain.
- President Vladimir Putin accused Germany on Tuesday of planting evidence to blame Moscow for the incident, further straining already tense diplomatic relations between the two nations.
253 Articles
253 Articles
Russia to close German cultural centres as Moscow and Europe spar over Ukraine
Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption in their countries with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilising European nations.
The Kremlin will close the three major headquarters of the Goethe Institute, the equivalent of the Cervantes Institute for the German language, in response to the closure of the Russian House in Berlin, decreed after Germany designated Russia as responsible for a drone attack at Leipzig airport in August. “If we did not, we would not respect ourselves,” the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Thursday, who has opened an interview that …
The German Goethe-Institut in Russia is due to close soon. This will end the German cultural presence in the country according to the Kremlin's will.
Russia will close branches of the Goethe Institute, the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, in what he said was Russia's response to recent actions taken by Berlin.
Russia to close branches of Germany's Goethe Institute
Russia will close multiple branches of Germany's Goethe Institute in response to Germany ordering the closure of a Russian cultural centre in Berlin, Moscow said Thursday, amid spiralling tensions between…
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