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Germany will close four out of five Russian consulates

Author:
Anna Kholodnova
Date:

Christian Grube / ArcheoPix / IMAGO

The German federal government has decided to close four out of five Russian consulates, writes Spiegel.

In Germany, it was called a reaction to the decision of the Russian authorities to limit the number of German officials in Russia to 350.

The German Foreign Ministry has announced that it will close its consulates in Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk in November.

The German Foreign Ministry noted that this step would create "structural and personnel parity." On Saturday, May 27, it became known that Moscow introduced "the upper limit of the number of personnel of German diplomatic missions and German intermediary organizations." Because of this, German officials have to leave Russia at the beginning of June.

Russia has limited the number of German civil servants in the country to 350. This also applies to cultural institutions. The German Foreign Ministry said that due to Russiaʼs decision, the Federal Republic of Germany would not have enough officials for consular support in the Russian Federation. The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of escalation.