Hundreds of German officials, including diplomats and German teachers, will have to leave Russia as of June 1, the German Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. It is a decision of the government of Vladimir Putin.
The reason is a decision by Moscow to severely limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions and cultural organizations in Russia, in retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats allegedly involved in espionage work.
"This limit set by Moscow from the beginning of June requires a big cut in all areas of our presence in Russia," the German Foreign Ministry confirmed to the outlet.
The objective of the Ministry is now "to guarantee a minimum presence" of workers in the field of transmission of German culture "while maintaining a diplomatic presence." According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, diplomats will be affected, but also teachers from German educational institutes in Moscow and employees of the Goethe Cultural Institute.
Along with the Moscow embassy, there are German consulates in the Russian cities of Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk and Saint Petersburg. In April, 30 employees of Russian diplomatic missions suspected by the German secret services of being involved in espionage work had to leave Germany.
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