Russia to Shut Goethe-Institut Centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia will close the Goethe-Institut cultural centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in retaliation for Germany’s closure of the Russian Goethe center in Berlin over a drone incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport blamed on Moscow; Germany also shuttered the Russian consulate in Bonn. Putin accused Berlin of planted evidence, and the centers had remained open amid broader Ukraine-related tensions.