In February 2026 the Zürich-based Tages-Anzeiger became the first outlet outside Germany to report on the Russian House. Simon Widmer describes Henry Lindemeier and Karin S., who does not want her surname in the paper, on a cold morning on Friedrichstraße.
The piece is interesting because the Swiss vantage point frames the case differently from the German coverage. The protest is not the main subject here; the question is what a sanctioned operator is doing in a European capital. Widmer reports the statement of a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry, according to which the legal consequence of sanctioning is an asset freeze and a prohibition on making funds available. He sets against it what is actually taking place: language courses, an open restaurant on the first floor, a translation service and a lawyer, both tenants.
The most valuable passage for the documentation concerns the then director. Izvolsky declined a meeting and left submitted questions unanswered. Elsewhere he had stated that the House is not on the sanctions list and operates independently of Rossotrudnichestvo. The Tages-Anzeiger counters that the House itself used to point to the agency on its own website, as archived versions show. That reference has since been removed.
Karin S. sums up their position to the paper: they will not be worn down that easily.