Moscow sets the dates: German consulate in Saint Petersburg to close by September 18

The diplomatic retaliation between Moscow and Berlin now has a timetable. On September 7, 2026, the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation withdrew its consent to the operation of the Consulate General of Germany in Saint Petersburg: the office must cease activities by September 18, 2026, and all its employees must leave Russian territory by the same date. At the same time, the Ministry ordered the cessation of activities of the Goethe-Institut cultural centres in the country, with a tighter deadline for personnel: staff on assignment must leave by September 13. The German chargé d’affaires in Russia was summoned on the same September 7 and informed of the measures.

We reported on the closure of the Goethe-Institut centres on September 3, when the announcement had been made without operational deadlines. Today’s development adds two things that were not there before: the involvement of the consular network, not just the cultural one, and the dates by which the offices must be vacated.

The Russian Ministry places the decision within a sequence of reciprocity. According to the statement, the measures respond to the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Bonn starting September 18 and to the termination of the agreement on the Russian House of Science and Culture in Berlin, announced on September 1 by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. September 18, in the Russian construction, is not just any date: it is the same day indicated by Berlin for its own office in Bonn. On the cultural front the wording is terse: “The German Goethe-Institut cultural centres in the Russian Federation must cease their activities” (transl. from Russian), reads the September 7 statement.

A note on sources, as our editorial standards require. The story currently stems from a single origin — the September 7 statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, picked up by ANSA, Askanews, AGI and Agenparl; the latter also notes the German Foreign Ministry. No independent confirmation from the party that adopted the measure is available as we write: the content reported here therefore consists of acts and statements attributed to the Russian Ministry, not facts verified by a second party. Based on the material available at this time, we are not aware of any official German response to the announced dates.

What can be measured is the declared symmetry and its timing. On the consular front the matter is stated as even: one German office in Russia against one Russian office in Germany, both with a deadline of September 18. On the cultural front the symmetry is declared but not verifiable with today’s material: on one side, the termination of an agreement concerning a single institute in Berlin; on the other, the cessation of activities of the Goethe-Institut centres in Russia.

The next two deadlines are close together and concern people before buildings: September 13 for the seconded staff of the cultural centres, and the 18th for consular employees and for the closure of the Saint Petersburg office. After that date, anyone in northwestern Russia needing a German consular service will have to turn to other representations.

Sources: ANSA; Askanews; AGI; Agenparl — all with primary origin in the statement of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation of September 7, 2026.