Germany may impose sanctions on the ‘russian House’

According to "Spiegel", the termination of the agreement governing the operation of the ‘russian House’ is no longer considered out of the question.

In response to enquiries from journalists, the German Foreign Office stated that, due to russia’s actions against German cultural organisations and against the backdrop of intensified russian hybrid activities, the government is ‘comprehensively and continuously reviewing the legal basis under international law for the ‘russian House’’s activities’. A preliminary decision could be taken as early as next week.

Calls to impose sanctions on the centre – where German intelligence services also suspect espionage activities – have been circulating for some time. Recently, this has been advocated in particular by Roderich Kiesewetter, the CDU’s foreign policy spokesperson; Steffen Krach, the SPD’s lead candidate in Berlin; and Konstantin von Notz, the Greens’ expert on domestic policy.

The ‘russian House’ in Berlin is run by the russian state agency ‘rossotrudnichestvo’, which has been subject to EU sanctions since 2022. However, the sanctions allow the organisation to retain its buildings.

The activities of the ‘russian House’ are governed by two agreements between Germany and russia. One, signed in 2013, concerns the plot of land on Friedrichstraße and is valid for 99 years. The second, concluded in 2011, governs the operation of cultural and information centres — this agreement can be unilaterally terminated once every five years, with the next such date being 7 June 2027.

Until now, both the current and previous German governments have avoided terminating this agreement. As it also governs the operations of German cultural institutes in Moscow and St Petersburg, it is expected that Moscow will close them in retaliation. These are the last remaining representations of German civil society in russia. The German Embassy in russia has repeatedly warned of the possible consequences of such a move. However, it now appears that the German government is prepared to disregard these concerns.

As previously reported, on the night of 5 August, a drone carrying explosives was discovered near a Ukrainian An-124 ‘Ruslan’ aircraft at the airport in Leipzig, Germany.

Source: Babel