Russia to close branches of Germany's Goethe-Institut after drone spat, foreign minister says
Lavrov said 3 Goethe-Institut branches will close after Germany blamed Moscow for a drone incident and shut Russian cultural sites.
- 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.
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Russia to Close German Cultural Centers After Berlin Pins Leipzig Drone Plot on Moscow
Moscow will close German cultural centers in Russia in response to Berlin’s decision to close similar Russian establishments in Germany, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sept. 3. Germany accused Russia on Sept. 1 of being behind an attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport in August. “The Germans have branches of the Goethe Institute here. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg. Well, of course, they’ll be closed after our cultur…
Russia to close German cultural centres as Moscow and Europe spar over Ukraine
Europe increasingly views itself as facing what it calls a hybrid war with Russia, marked by tools such as cyberwarfare and disinformation as well as a conventional military threat. Each side accuses the other of state terrorism.
Lavrov Accuses Germany of Anti-Russian Campaign as Moscow Orders Goethe Institute Closures
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would close Goethe Institute offices in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg after Germany decided to shut down the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin. Lavrov also accused Western governments of pursuing an anti-Russian campaign over the war in Ukraine.
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 …
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