Four of Russia’s five consulates will close in Germany, according to Russian media. According to German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christopher Burger, in addition to the one remaining consulate, the Russian Embassy in Berlin will continue to operate.
The German authorities took this action in response to Russia’s decision to reduce the presence of German government employees in the country to 350 people.
German representative offices in Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg will close in Russia. At the same time, the German Consulates General in Moscow and St. Petersburg will continue to operate.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry is expected in the near future in connection with Berlin’s decision.
On May 27, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that hundreds of German citizens working in the fields of culture and education were expelled from Russia. The program will involve teachers from the Friedrich Josef Haas School at the German Embassy, employees of the Goethe Institute, as well as diplomats and cultural mediators.
According to a source of the German edition, the German Foreign Ministry tried to dissuade the Russian side from taking such measures, but in the end, Moscow still made the decision to expel him, which Berlin considers “unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible.”
In April, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany.
This step was explained in Berlin by the need to reduce the activity of Russian special services in the country. Before that, there was information that the German authorities had suspected dozens of Russian diplomatic staff of espionage.
As a reminder, in Helsinki, the authorities seized the property and land of the Russian Center for Science and Culture, which was a cover for spies.
