Several Russian consulates close: a step towards escalation

After Russia announced restrictions on German civil servants, four Russian consulates general in Germany have been forced to close. This was announced by a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office on Wednesday in Berlin. The German government has decided to "withdraw consent to the operation of four of the five Russian consulates general operated in Germany."

Matthias Wyssuwa

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Russia will continue to be allowed to maintain its embassy in Berlin and a consulate general. The others would have to be closed by the end of the year. So far, Russia has consulates general in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Bonn and Munich.

Russia had previously told the German government that many German civil servants would have to leave the country because it had introduced an upper limit that will apply from the beginning of June. The "total German presence" in Russia will thus be limited to 350 people, the spokesman for the Foreign Office announced.

"Consistent decision"

This applies both to diplomatic staff in the embassy and consulates general as well as to so-called cultural mediators, i.e. employees at German schools and Goethe-Instituts. Moscow had thus "taken a step towards escalation," the spokesman said. "It is the behavior of the Russian side that brought us to this situation."

True, the Foreign Office did not want to disclose how high the number of German civil servants in Russia is. However, the spokesman said that the restriction chosen by Russia leads to the need to intervene "very massively" in the existing personnel structures at the German missions. Germany will therefore close its consulates in Königsberg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk.

The foreign policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group, Ulrich Lechte, welcomed the step of the Federal Government: "This is a clear and consistent decision." With the limitation of the number of German diplomats on the part of Russia, diplomatic operations can no longer be maintained. "At the same time, such an action must not go unanswered on our part."