Russia to close Goethe-Institut branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg after German closure of Russian House

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. Russia will close the Goethe-Institut branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in response to the German authorities’ closure of the Russian House in Berlin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"The Germans have Goethe-Institute branches here: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg, Well, of course they will be closed after our cultural center was expelled from there [from Berlin]," Lavrov said during a lecture organized by the Znanie (Knowledge) Society on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

He went on to say that Germany made the decision to close the Russian House in Berlin and the Consulate General in Bonn under the false pretext that the drone that crashed in Leipzig was allegedly Russian.

"They found a drone at an airport in Leipzig, Germany. They decided that the drone looks like those used by Russia, although they still cannot confirm this as a definitive conclusion. On the basis of these assumptions, speculations and guesswork, they decided to close our last remaining consulate general in Bonn and our Russian House in Berlin," he said.

On September 1, the German government officially blamed Russia for the drone incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport and announced countermeasures. In particular, it decided to close the Russian Consulate General in Bonn on September 18. Other measures include terminating the agreement on the activities of the Russian House in Berlin and tightening entry controls for Russian citizens. Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev firmly rejected all the accusations, calling them unsubstantiated and absurd.