Russia said it will close Germany’s Goethe-Institut cultural centres in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg after Berlin halted the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin and ordered the Russian consulate in Bonn closed over a drone incident at Leipzig/Halle airport.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Germany “deliberately took this step” knowing it would end Germany’s cultural presence in Russia. The Goethe-Institut centres had stayed open “despite all the Ukrainian complications in our relations with the West,” he said, according to TASS.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Tuesday accused Russia of a “hybrid attack” after an explosive-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle on the evening of Aug. 4 and defused. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence to blame Moscow.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told foreign ministers meeting in Ireland that the Leipzig incident “has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism.” She said the EU had summoned the Russian envoy and that ministers agreed to keep working on a proposal to sanction 1,600 individuals and entities linked to Russia’s military industry, hoping to adopt measures next month.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France would not let an act of such gravity go unpunished and that he had summoned Russia’s envoy in Paris. BBC reporting also noted NATO and European Commission leaders vowing to step up pressure after Germany attributed the Leipzig drone attack to Russia.
Sources: Al Jazeera; BBC.
