Germany orders Russia to close four of its five consulates in tit-for-tat move

The government said Wednesday that it has told Russia to close four of its five consulates in Germany in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow set a limit on the number of staff members at the German Embassy and related bodies in Russia.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin that the move was intended to create a “parity of personnel and structures” between the two countries.

Russia has consulates in Bonn, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich. It will be up to Moscow to decide which one it will keep open.

The Russian government recently said that a maximum of 350 German government officials, including those working in cultural bodies and schools, can remain in Russia. Burger said this means that Germany will have to shutter its consulates in Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Kaliningrad by November.

Only the embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg will remain open, he said.

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He said Russia would be allowed to continue operating its embassy in Berlin and one consulate elsewhere after the end of the year.

The move reflects a new low in relations between Moscow and Berlin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Burger said the move was regrettable but added that the war meant there was “simply no basis” for numerous bilateral activities between the two countries anymore.

“It is the behavior of the Russian side that has brought us into this situation,” he said.

Burger said Germany’s decision to concentrate its remaining staff in its embassy and a key consulate would “preserve the diplomatic presence in Russia.”