Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Russia will close German cultural centres across the country in response to steps taken by Berlin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday, in the latest sign of worsening ties between Moscow and European countries backing Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The announcement came after Germany blamed Moscow for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport and said it was shutting the Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin. The latest moves come amid wider concern in Europe over what officials describe as Russian sabotage, disruption and pressure tactics linked to the war in Ukraine.
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Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption in their countries to weaken support for Ukraine and destabilise European nations. Russian officials deny this. Europe increasingly sees itself as facing what it calls a hybrid war with Russia, involving cyberwarfare, disinformation and a conventional military threat. Each side has accused the other of state terrorism.
The tension has been building for months and has become one of the European Union’s biggest foreign and defence policy challenges. At the end of last year, the head of Britain’s MI6 said President Vladimir Putin was testing the West with tactics that fall “just below the threshold of war” and was determined to “harass NATO members”.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Lavrov said Germany’s Goethe-Institut centres in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg would be closed. He said any other response would show a lack of “self-respect” on Russia’s part. Lavrov added that Germany “could not have failed to understand” that closing Russian House would “signify the end of their cultural presence in Russia”.
German authorities said an explosives-laden drone was found near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport on August 4 and was later defused. The airport is a major international freight hub used to support Ukraine. Germany said it was “not at war” but had become a “daily target” of the Kremlin’s hybrid campaign.
Putin rejected the allegations, saying Berlin was trying to distract from its own failings and public discontent. Any proof being offered “has been planted”, he said. German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul said Berlin had carefully prepared its response, “and now Russia must live with these consequences”. He also called on Moscow “to show that it is also ready for reasonable talks and negotiations, particularly regarding the situation in Ukraine”.
European Union ministers on Wednesday discussed how to respond to the attempted drone attack, but found it difficult to identify fresh non-military options. Before chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “It is clear that it has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism. The question is: what do we do about this.” She said ministers discussed sanctions, visa restrictions and shutting Russian consulates, among other steps.
The EU has already imposed nearly two dozen rounds of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, targeting more than 3,000 officials, oligarchs and entities, including banks, energy companies and drone makers. Kallas said the bloc was also preparing more travel bans and asset freezes on another 1,600 people.
Elsewhere in Europe, more than 2,000 people in Finland took part on Thursday in what was described as the biggest civil defence exercise in Europe since World War II, with scenarios including missile strikes from neighbouring Russia. In Norway, authorities on Wednesday seized a Russian vessel in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard at the request of Ukraine’s Naftogaz as part of efforts to enforce a USD 4.22 billion arbitration award. The move came amid a wider European push against vessels linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which officials say breaches international sanctions.
Danish security services have also warned that Russian sabotage against the country’s defence industry may be imminent. Emil Graesholm, head of counterintelligence at Denmark’s PET security service, told the Berlingske newspaper that intelligence agencies had seen signs of very specific Russian planning for sabotage operations, mainly targeting defence companies, especially those linked to supplying military components to Ukraine.
Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Leipzig/Halle Airport incident was “a very serious act that could have very grave consequences”. He said the threats would not stop Italy from considering further military assistance to Kyiv, including possible SAMP/T air defence batteries, although weapons production limits were affecting supply efforts. Taken together, Russia’s move against German cultural centres, the EU’s deliberations and fresh security alerts across Europe underline the depth of the confrontation linked to the war in Ukraine.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
