"It won't be done the easy way" – Germany closes the Russian House and the Russian Consulate General
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced the termination of the agreement concerning the activities of the Russian House in Berlin.
The German justified this step by the “ need to strengthen Germany’s security ,” reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
It was also announced that the Russian Consulate General in Bonn would close by September 18.
According to Wadephul, the closure of the Russian House in Berlin is part of a package of measures in response to the incident involving the discovery of a drone at Leipzig Airport in early August.
Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechayev was summoned today to the German Foreign Ministry, where he was presented with a protest regarding the above-mentioned charges.
"The Russian ambassador resolutely rejected Berlin's accusations as unsubstantiated, absurd, and contrary to common sense... He pointed out that the measures announced by the German side constitute an unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations and will not be without consequences, for which the German government will bear full responsibility," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
Nechayev also emphasized that “ the hastily concocted provocation at Leipzig Airport serves exclusively the goals of the Kiev regime , the militaristic wing of the European political class, and the military-industrial complex magnates.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova drew attention to the date.
"I'm just wondering, when they made anti-Russian statements on September 1st, were they 'just in case they thought it,' demonstrating yet again their stupidity and ignorance, or were they literally declaring a return to their roots, ritually demonstrating their intentions?
On September 1, 1939, Germany unleashed World War II, killing 70 million people together with the Axis powers, 27 million of whom were ours,” Zakharova recalled.
Former Odessa mayoral candidate Vyacheslav Azarov expressed doubt that "the target was the Russian House in Berlin or the marches of Russian emigrants with irritating flags on May 9."
" Merz's cabinet is currently facing far greater challenges from domestic politics, with the AfD's unhealthy popularity ahead of the elections. But the German far right is too sympathetic to the Kremlin. And the aforementioned incidents are a good pretext for trying to link them to this Russian terrorist threat ."
"At a minimum, an information campaign; at a maximum, removal from the elections . It's no joke: with AfD's electoral support like this, all democracy is in danger, and with it, the unity of the European Union," Azarov reasons.
State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky also believes that the elections are the issue.
"It's clear that Chancellor Merz is deliberately escalating the situation using the classic method of creating 'external threats' to distract attention from domestic political problems ahead of Germany's autumn election cycle," writes Slutsky, noting that the Germans haven't shown the same zeal with the Nord Stream 2 bombing as they did with the "investigation" of the Leipzig incident.
"At the same time, Berlin is fabricating 'justifications' for aggressive plans to militarize European countries, acting according to the 'highly likely' standards and the 'Skripal case' template. It's a cheap production for the European public ," the deputy added, reminding everyone that " the boomerang has a way of coming back."
"This nonsense about supposedly our drones in Leipzig was staged just days before the local parliamentary elections. This is the state of Saxony, where the Alternative for Germany party is expected to win. And this is a provocation orchestrated by the Ukrainians. For years, the Germans have been trying to figure out who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline and deprived them of cheap gas, and now they've so quickly identified the drones as ours. This won't help Merz's party ," writes Russian political scientist Marat Bashirov.
Historian Alexander Dyukov notes that given that Germany is the second largest donor of military aid to Ukraine after the United States, this should not be surprising.
"There's no point pretending that the current measures are anything significant. They've already shed a lot of our blood and will continue to do so until Ukraine is liquidated ," Dyukov believes.
International relations expert Artyom Sokolov believes that these decisions remove the last remaining restrictions on the Russian side, stemming from a desire to preserve elements of the old infrastructure of Russian-German relations.
" The desire to reach an 'amicable' agreement was assessed through the prism of the attainability of Russia's strategic defeat. Under such conditions, it was possible to act proactively and provocatively—as German organizations did in Russia. This wouldn't have lasted long, but it was possible to leave with a feeling of deep satisfaction and slam the door.
"It's certainly a shame what's been lost. But let these unfriendly steps by Berlin be a compelling reason to seek new tools for working with Germany, regardless of history. We have a Zeitenwende [ agreement] up to [the end of the war]," Sokolov writes.
Senator Vladimir Dzhabarov recalls that " 87 years ago, Germany staged a similar performance " when they staged an attack on the radio station in Gleiwitz in order to obtain a pretext to start World War II.
“Those who today in Berlin and Brussels are trying to blame Russia for all sins are forgetting one simple thing: without us, they would not speak German today, or they simply would not exist ,” the senator recalled.
Former Russian representative to NATO, Senator Dmitry Rogozin, believes that German leadership is targeting Kaliningrad.
"Considering the clumsy provocation by Ukrainian intelligence services at Leipzig Airport, it's hard to believe the sheer stupidity of German agents. It's clear that this performance was staged jointly by Berlin and Kyiv and is aimed at escalating tensions with Russia."
Why is Germany participating in the expansion of hostility against Russia? The answer is simple: Kaliningrad. German revanchists have decided they have a chance to reclaim East Prussia by creating a flashpoint around the Kaliningrad region. In my opinion, this is where armed provocations should be expected," Rogozin argues.
"It won't be done the easy way" - Germany closes the Russian House and the Russian Consulate General