Russian house in Berlin closed after drone attack on Halle/Leipzig airport

Alexander Estis, born in Moscow in 1986, lives as a writer in Switzerland. In 2025 his book “Russia’s Minion State: Ideology, Propaganda, Repression and Resistance” was published by NZZ Libro.

I hear the so-called friends of Russian culture groaning from everywhere. Because the Russian House, more precisely: the Russian House of Science and Culture in Berlin, was closed. This was the federal government's response to the attempted Russian drone attack at Halle/Leipzig airport.

»We are burning all bridges for cultural exchange. We are burning all bridges for dialogue," says Sahra Wagenknecht in a dismayed tone, which her party colleague Sevim Dağdelen immediately escalates - how could it be otherwise - into a Nazi comparison: "With its fury against cultural exchange, this federal government is reminiscent of the darkest German times." The closure of the "cultural center" is the "completely wrong signal," explains AfD member of the Bundestag Christina Baum, and left-wing politician Kerstin Kaiser joins in the lament with: “The turning point is washing away a place of culture, education and encounters. The loss marks a defeat for democratic thinking, for Berlin’s openness and tolerance.”