Germany orders four Russian consulates on its soil closed, Moscow slams move
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Officials examine fragments of a missile in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, after Russia fired a barrage of missiles at the city.
PHOTO: AFP
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BERLIN - Germany said on Wednesday that it will drastically reduce Moscow’s diplomatic presence on its soil in response to a similar move from Russia, in the latest escalation of tensions over the war in Ukraine.
Berlin has ordered four of Moscow’s five consulates in Germany to close, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told a regular government press conference.
“This was communicated to the Russian Foreign Ministry today,” the spokesman said.
The move comes after Moscow put a limit of 350 on the number of German personnel allowed in Russia, according to the spokesman.
This will mean that hundreds of civil servants and local employees working for German institutions in Russia will have to leave the country, according to the German foreign ministry.
“This unjustified decision forces the government to make very substantial cuts in all areas of its presence in Russia,” the spokesman said on Wednesday.
This will include closing the German consulates in Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk, with operations to be considerably reduced and discontinued by November, he said.
Germany’s embassy in Moscow and its consulate in St Petersburg will not be affected.
“For the Russian presence in Germany, our decisions apply reciprocally… in order to ensure a balance of the mutual presences both in terms of personnel and structure,” the spokesman added.
Moscow’s reduction of German staff in Russia will affect several hundred people working in German embassies or institutions starting from June, according to the ministry.
Soured relations
Those affected include consulate staff, but mostly employees of the Goethe cultural institute in the country, German schools and nurseries.
Moscow decried Berlin’s decision as “ill-thought out” and vowed a response.
“There should be no doubt in Berlin that these ill-thought out provocative actions will not remain without our proper reaction,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
A close economic partner with Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine, Germany has since sharply dialled down its ties with Moscow, while financially and militarily supporting Kyiv in the conflict.
Since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian espionage in Germany
In April, Germany expelled several Russian diplomats
In spring 2022, Germany already expelled some 40 Russian diplomats, which Berlin believed to represent a threat to its security.
Last October, the head of Germany’s cyber security agency, Mr Arne Schoenbohm, was fired after news reports revealed his proximity to a cyber security consultancy believed to have contacts with Russian intelligence services.
A month later, a German reserve officer was handed a suspended prison sentence of a year and nine months for spying for Russia.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany had repeatedly accused Russia of cyber attacks on its soil.
Relations between the two countries have also been strained by energy policies, with Russia throttling gas supplies to Germany
