Russia Orders Closures of German Consulate and Cultural Centers in Tit-for-Tat Move– www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it was shuttering the German consulate in St. Petersburg and German cultural centers across the country.

The closures were announced in retaliation for Germany’s decision last week to close the Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin after its government blamed Moscow for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month.

Moscow gave diplomats and employees at the German Consulate General in St. Petersburg until Sept. 18 to cease operations and leave Russia.

Staff at Germany’s Goethe-Institut cultural center branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg were given until this Sunday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned Germany’s ambassador in Moscow to inform him about the retaliatory decisions.

“It was the German authorities who once again provoked a new spiral of escalation in bilateral relations. Full responsibility for the consequences lies entirely with the German government,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.

President Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in order to blame Moscow for the early August incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

On Sunday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed Berlin’s accusations against Moscow amounted to “an effective declaration of war against us.”

Lavrov said last week that Moscow would respond to the closure of its cultural center in Berlin by closing the Goethe-Institut cultural centers across Russia.

Russia’s first Goethe-Institut opened in Moscow in 1992, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union.