Russia to close branches of Germany's Goethe-Institut after drone spat, foreign minister says

​Russia will close Germany's Goethe-Institut ​cultural centres, Russian newswires ‌quoted Russian Foreign ​Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Thursday, after Germany blamed Russia for a ‌drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle Airport. Germany's response measures included the closure of a Russian cultural centre in Berlin and a consulate in ‌Bonn. On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in ‌order to blame Moscow for the incident.

Lavrov said Russia would close the centres in the cities of Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, after Germany's decision ⁠to ​halt the ⁠operation of the Russian centre in Berlin. "They (Germany) deliberately took this step - they ⁠could not have failed to understand - which means the end of their cultural ​presence in Russia," Lavrov said, according to state news agency ⁠TASS.

The centres had stayed open "despite all the Ukrainian complications in our relations ⁠with ​the West," he added. Russia's first Goethe-Institut opened in Moscow in 1992, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. ⁠Following a diplomatic spat with Britain, Russia ordered the closure of its British ⁠Council in ⁠2018.

On Wednesday, Lavrov's deputy, Alexander Grushko, said Russia would retaliate "very soon" for the closure of the ‌Bonn consulate.