- The Russian House in Berlin features a cinema, travel agency and book shop
German authorities are under pressure to shut down a cultural hub in Berlin accused of being a front for Russian spies and propaganda.
The Russian House in Berlin features a cinema, a travel agency and a book shop and advertises itself as a meeting place for Russians.
But it could all be a front for Russian spies and propaganda, according to concerned politicians, who are urging German authorities to shut down the Russian House.
‘The Russian House has long served as an extension of the Kremlin, spreading disinformation and propaganda,’ Roderich Kiesewetter, the crisis prevention spokesman for the German opposition CDU party, told the Telegraph.
And a senior figure in the CDU warned that the cultural hub was a front for ‘totalitarian’ Russian propaganda and is likely being used to avoid EU sanctions on Russia, with Kiesewetter adding: ‘Suspected violations of sanctions are also known.’
The Russian House in Berlin (pictured above) features a cinema, a travel agency and a book shop and advertises itself as a meeting place for Russians
Kiesewetter criticised Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s government and said they were not doing enough to address concerns that the Russian House was used for propaganda as he said ‘it is absolutely possible’ to close it from a legal standpoint.
He added that the Russian House is run by the Russian government agency Rossotrudnichestvo, often considered to be related to Russian spies, and therefore ‘the accusation that the house can also serve as a hub for espionage activities or agent activities is obvious’.
The director of the Russian House, Pavel Izvolsky, voiced confusion over why sanctions were imposed on Rossotrudnichestvo when speaking to local media earlier this year.
He said: ‘I don’t know why Rossotrudnichestvo is under sanctions. It was a decision of Brussels and the EU. It came as a big surprise for me.
‘There are many ministries of the Russian government. Why did they sanction us and not the defence ministry? I don’t understand it.’
The Russian House previously came under fire for screening a Holocaust film in October 2022, which portrayed Ukrainians as Nazis, echoing Vladimir Putin’s war propaganda that his soldiers were fighting Nazis in Ukraine.
But the book shop in the Russian House is still selling books by Russian war ideologists and right-wing extremists as well as toys glorifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to local media.
The products on offer in the bookshop also reportedly include a ‘soap workshop’ for children, where they can make soap themselves using three molds – of a hand grenade, a pistol and a Russian-made tank.
It is understood that the reluctance of the German government to shut down the Russian House is likely due to fears that Russia could in return shut down the German cultural centre – the Goethe Institute – in Moscow.
But the Russian House could be a front for Russian spies and propaganda, according to concerned politicians, who are urging German authorities to shut down the Russian House
A spokesman for Germany’s foreign office said: ‘At the instigation of the German federal government, the operating organisation of the Russian House has been sanctioned across the EU since July 21, 2022.
‘The listing results in a freeze of all assets located in the EU for the operating organisation Rossotrudnichestvo.
‘In addition, a comprehensive ban on making assets available is imposed, meaning that EU legal entities may not directly or indirectly make economic resources or financial means available to the organisation or its affiliated entities.’
The Berlin public prosecutor’s office and the Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement at Customs consider the financing of the Russian House to be a criminal offence, German outlet Tagesspiegel reports.
Authorities are reportedly investigating ‘against unknown persons and against the tenants in the Russian House’.