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Goethe-Institut – no longer a bargaining chip

The German government protects the Russian House with the argument that closing it would endanger the Goethe-Instituts in Russia. What is left of that argument?

The government's argument: "We cannot close the Russian House – Russia would retaliate by closing our Goethe-Instituts." How much of this is still true?
📍 What remains of the Goethe-Instituts in Russia +
  • Novosibirsk: completely closed. Premises abandoned, only a contact point remains.Forschung & Lehre, May 2023
  • Moscow: No in-person language courses – only online offerings, library and exams.Goethe-Institut, 2023
  • St. Petersburg: In-person courses still running – but of three course offerings (adults, teenagers, children), only one is currently open. Children's courses take place in the library, not in classrooms.Own research, March 2026
  • The Russian Foreign Ministry imposed a cap on staff numbers for German organisations – the Goethe-Institut's headcount was cut from around 200 to 13.Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung, June 2023
  • The Goethe-Institut itself describes this as the "tearing down of the last bridges of civil society".Goethe-Institut press release, May 2023
⚖️ The asymmetry: what Russia has vs. what Germany has +
  • Russian House Berlin: 29,000 m², restaurant, cinema, concerts, language courses, bookshop – full operation, as if no sanctions existed
  • Goethe-Institut Russia: Staff cut from 200 to 13, Novosibirsk closed, Moscow without in-person courses, St. Petersburg running on minimum
  • The Russian House operates under treaty protection and German taxpayer funding – the Goethe-Instituts operate under Russian pressure
  • Other EU countries closed comparable Russian institutes long ago – Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden – without their own cultural institutes in Russia being shut downTAZ, April 2025
"They spit on the treaty and we cling to the illusion of cultural exchange."
Robin Wagener, MP (Greens) – Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 2025
🎯 Russia uses the Goethe-Institut as a pressure tool +
  • The Russian Foreign Ministry explicitly threatened measures against the Goethe-Institut if the account freeze on the Russian House was not liftedGerman Foreign Office, government press conference, March 2023
  • Russia is deliberately constructing this threat – and Germany is playing along
  • This means: protecting the Russian House gives Russia exactly the leverage it needs
"It cannot be that this propaganda outlet receives money from us while the Russians conduct their information war against us from there."
Robin Wagener, MP (Greens) – Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 2025
❓ The key question +
  • What bridge are we still building – in a country that destabilises Europe, imprisons dissidents and wages a war of aggression?
  • Who still visits the Goethe-Institut in Russia today – and under what pressure?
  • Is an institute with 13 staff members, no in-person courses in Moscow, really the basis for a foreign policy decision that shields Russia's propaganda centre in Berlin?
Conclusion The government's bargaining chip argument has been hollowed out. The Goethe-Instituts in Russia have already been reduced to a minimum – not by German decisions, but by Russian pressure. Yet the Russian House in Berlin continues at full capacity. The question is no longer whether we are risking something. The question is why we are still tolerating it.