Russia to close German cultural centres in row over airport drone attack
The German government has blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month.
Russia will close German cultural centres across the country, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
The move comes after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month and announced the closure of both the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in the German capital.
Moscow has been widely accused by western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilising European nations, something Russian officials deny.
Mr 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, Mr 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 August 4 and later defused. The airport is a major international freight hub used for providing support to Ukraine.
European Union ministers on Wednesday weighed how best to respond to the attempted drone attack but struggled to find new ways to meet the challenge without resorting to military means.
“It is clear that it has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism. The question is: what do we do about this,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters before chairing a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Ireland.
They discussed sanctions, visa restrictions and shutting Russian consulates, among other measures.
The EU has slapped almost two dozen packages of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, hitting more than 3,000 officials, oligarchs and entities including banks, energy companies and drone makers.
The EU was already preparing to impose more travel bans and asset freezes on another 1,600 people, Ms Kallas said.
Germany insisted it was “not at war” but had become a “daily target” of the Kremlin’s hybrid campaign.
President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the allegations, saying Berlin wants to distract from its own failings and dissatisfaction among voters. Any proof being offered “has been planted”, Mr Putin said.
But German foreign minister Johan Wadephul said Berlin had carefully prepared its response “and now Russia must live with these consequences”.
He called on Russia “to show that it is also ready for reasonable talks and negotiations, particularly regarding the situation in Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, Danish security services are warning that Russian acts of sabotage against the country’s defence industry may be imminent.
Danish intelligence services have seen signs of very specific planning by Russia to conduct sabotage operations in the country, the head of counter-intelligence at the Danish national security and intelligence service PET, told the Berlingske newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.
Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the Leipzig/Halle Airport incident was “a very serious act that could have very grave consequences”. But he said the threats are not discouraging Italy from providing further help to Kyiv.