Conflicts: Hundreds of German civil servants have to get out of Russia

According to a report, several hundred German civil servants such as diplomats, teachers and employees of the Goethe Institute have to leave Russia. This is reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.

When asked, the Federal Foreign Office said that in connection with the reduction in the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany, the Russian Foreign Ministry decided in April to introduce an upper limit for the number of staff at German diplomatic missions and intermediary organizations in Russia. “This limit set by Russia from the beginning of June requires a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia.”

According to newspaper reports, diplomats are affected in a low to mid three-digit number, but above all cultural mediators, such as teachers at the German school in Moscow and a significant number of employees of the Goethe Institute.

Diplomats are always expelled from each other

In the course of their serious tensions in the past, Germany and Russia have repeatedly expelled each other’s diplomats. The representations are already thinning out, the services for German citizens are reduced or are associated with longer waiting times, for example when documents are issued. The situation worsened significantly with the start of the Russian war against Ukraine.

“In view of this unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision, the federal government is now concerned with ensuring a minimum presence of the mediators in Russia while at the same time maintaining the diplomatic presence,” the newspaper quoted the Federal Foreign Office as saying. This is only possible if “in all areas the number of employees is reduced, in some cases significantly”. With a view to the upper limit for the Russian presence in Germany, the federal government will ensure that there is a real balance in practice, it said.