"Hundreds" of German citizens working in the fields of culture and education will be expelled from Russia in June, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports , citing the German Foreign Ministry.
This is due to the fact that the Russian authorities have decided to limit the number of employees of German institutions operating in Russia. It will affect teachers at the Friedrich Josef Haas School at the German Embassy, employees of the Goethe Institute, as well as diplomats and cultural mediators. As a result, about 350 German citizens will remain in the Russian Federation doing such work.
According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung sources, the German Foreign Ministry tried to dissuade Russia from such steps, but these efforts did not lead to results. Germany considers Moscow's decision "one-sided, unreasonable and incomprehensible." At the same time, the department emphasizes that they will try to ensure a minimal presence of both German cultural mediators in Russia and diplomats in the country, but some German institutions on Russian territory will still have to be closed. It is also emphasized that Germany should expect retaliatory measures against Russian representatives in this country.
According to Fontanka, the Goethe Institute in St. Petersburg has already gone on an early summer break, although the language courses in it were supposed to complete their work in mid-June.
In April, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany. This step was explained in Berlin by the need to reduce the activity of Russian special services in the country. Before that, there was information that the German authorities suspected dozens of Russian diplomatic missions of espionage.