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The Russian House is centrally located on Friedrichstrasse in the heart of the German capital. As a throwback to a bygone era of friendly German-Russian relations, it is the subject of fierce disagreements and has long been a bone of contention in Berlin. The massive seven-story building covering an area of almost 30,000 square meters was opened in 1984.
At that time, back in the days of the East German state, its role was to celebrate friendship with the Soviet Union through concerts, film screenings, and book readings. It even had its own small bookstore.
Today's administrators still maintain that it is a place to celebrate the friendship between the two countries: "The Russian House is Russia's cultural embassy in the heart of Berlin," according to the Russian Embassy's website.
But quite a few critics say that the events that take place there, which the Russian House estimates attract 200,000 visitors a year, mainly serve as propaganda for Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Sale of tank-shaped bars of soap
Berlin media outlets have repeatedly reported on events at the in-house cinema where, for example, a Holocaust film was shown in which Ukrainian citizens were portrayed as Nazis. And if Robin Wagener, a member of the Bundestag for the Green Party, is to be believed, the Russian House even sells soap for children in the shape of a tank. Wagener told DW: "It is time we recognized that this is not mutual cultural exchange, but Russian war propaganda in Germany."
That's why Wagener thinks it's time to focus on one particularly bizarre detail: the property on Friedrichstrasse belongs to Germany, and yet the building is run by the Russian federal agency "Rossotrudnichestvo." In English, that's the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation.
Rossotrudnichestvo, whose primary purpose is to promote the Russian language abroad, currently has 73 similar institutions in 62 countries worldwide, including the one in Berlin.
Since 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the agency has been on the EU sanctions list. At the time, the EU justified this by stating that the agency's goal was to consolidate "a wider public perception of the occupied Ukrainian territories as Russian." The director and deputy director, the statement added, had clearly expressed their support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Robin Wagener, Bundestag lawmaker for the Greens, wants the 'Russian House' to be closedImage: dts Nachrichtenagentur/IMAGOGerman property tax for Russian state propaganda?
However, as the de facto owner of the property, the German federal government must now pay a whopping €70,000 ($81,193) in property taxes. This stems from a long-standing agreement between Germany and Russia, which recognized each other's cultural work. Wagener wants to ensure that this sum is cut from the upcoming budget negotiations.
Wagener first had the idea a year ago, but in the chaotic turmoil of the coalition government between the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party, and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), no budget was agreed upon, which is only now being finalized. Wagener's reasoning for the possible cut: The house has long lost sight of its original purpose, namely to promote mutual cultural exchange: "Russia keeps escalating. And that's making the situation worse. The basis for this mutual cultural agreement was to promote the exchange of culture and science."
Wagener approached the new federal government on this matter. The response was somewhat awkward: "With regard to the house located on the property, which is owned by the Russian Federation, the Federal Republic of Germany pays the property tax for the Russian Federation on the basis of its legal obligation under the bilateral German-Russian agreement on property issues relating to cultural institutes of 2013." It made reference, in other words, to an agreement that was reached before the Russian occupation of Crimea.
Symbols of frienship remain on display in Berlin's Russia House Image: Dmyrto Katkov/DWGerman government fears closure of Goethe Institute
Whether this will lead to the freezing of funds is anything but certain. The German Foreign Office has repeatedly stated that the employees of the institute have diplomatic status in Germany. It is an open secret that the German government is shying away from open conflict over the Russian House because it fears that the Russian government could respond by closing the Goethe Institute in Moscow.
Green politician Wagener nevertheless vows to continue campaigning for its closure: "I believe that this Russian cultural center has no future as a cultural mediator. If one wants to seriously engage with Russian culture, which I would very much welcome, then there are already civil society venues run by people who are themselves persecuted in Russia and live here in Germany because they can no longer freely express their culture in Russia."
For the time being, however, the Russian House plans to continue hosting events at its located on one of the most famous streets in the German capital, right in the heart of Berlin.
This article was originally written in German.
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