04/09/2026 - 8:41 GMT+2
Russia will shutter German cultural centres across the country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport and announced the closure of both the Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in the German capital.
Lavrov said that cultural centres belonging to Germany’s Goethe-Institut would be closed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, adding that any other response would show a lack of “self-respect” on Russia’s part.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Lavrov said that Germany “could not have failed to understand” that the closure of Russian House would “signify the end of their cultural presence in Russia.”
A drone laden with explosives was found near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport on 4 August and later defused. The airport is a major international freight hub used for providing support to Ukraine.
