Moscow has responded to Germany’s decision to close the Russian House in Berlin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that three Goethe-Institut branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg will be closed.
Lavrov made the announcement at a conference organized by the Russian Knowledge Society as part of the Eastern Economic Forum. He said Germany would no longer be able to maintain its cultural presence in Russia after the closure of the Russian cultural center.
Moscow will not insist on lifting sanctions
The Russian foreign minister said Moscow would not insist on returning to the cooperation it had with Europe in previous years or on having the sanctions lifted. He said Russia had its own dignity and did not need the goodwill of another side.
Lavrov argued that the West had chosen to dictate rather than negotiate, saying sanctions had become the main instrument of European foreign policy. He noted that primary, secondary or tertiary sanctions were brought into consideration when a country was deemed not to comply with the expectations of its Western counterparts.
Lavrov comments on Ukraine’s drone activities
Lavrov also commented on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s remarks about the increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in Russian airspace. He said Zelenskyy had stated that civil aviation should not operate in areas where unmanned aerial vehicles were present.
The Russian foreign minister claimed that this approach was based on expectations of destabilizing Russian society and triggering social unrest. Lavrov said attacks against Russia targeted online trading platforms, oil refineries and other infrastructure that facilitates people’s daily lives.
