Berlin/Moscow (dpa) – Several hundred German civil servants such as diplomats, teachers and employees of the Goethe Institut must leave Russia. According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Federal Foreign Office stated in response to an inquiry that the Russian Foreign Ministry decided in April to impose a limit on the personnel of German foreign missions and intermediary organisations, commencing at the start of June. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the decision was linked to the reduction of Russian intelligence services in Germany.
Speaking on Saturday, a representative of the Federal Foreign Office said this limit would require “major cuts across all areas of our presence in Russia,” and that this was a “unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision” by Russia. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the priority for Federal Government was now to reduce presence of mediators in Russia to a minimum while still maintaining Germany’s presence there.