Ukraine has officially appealed to the governments of countries where the Russian House network of Russian cultural centers operates, calling on them to close the institutions.
This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Sybiha.
According to him, these Russian institutions are tools of disinformation, destabilization and espionage. The centers operate in at least seven European countries. The networkʼs activities are even more extensive in Africa, Central and East Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and South America.
In Chisinau, the Russian House was closed on July 5. This happened because in November 2025, Moldova withdrew from the intergovernmental agreement on cultural centers, which it signed with the Russian Federation in 1998.
One of these centers is also to be closed in Berlin, Germany recently reported. The “Russian House” in the German capital is run by the Russian state agency “Rosspirovodstvo”, which has been under EU sanctions since 2022. At the same time, the sanctions allow the organization to maintain its buildings.
The activities of the Russian House centers are regulated by two agreements between Germany and Russia. One was signed in 2013 and concerns a plot of land on Friedrichstrasse, and is valid for 99 years. The second, concluded in 2011, regulates the work of cultural and information centers — this agreement can be unilaterally terminated once every five years, the next such date will be June 7, 2027.
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