Address by the Russian Ambassador to Germany

Address by the Russian Ambassador to Germany, S.Yu. Nechaev, to compatriots regarding the closure of four of Russia’s five General Consulates in the Federal Republic of Germany:

Dear compatriots, dear friends,

In response to the numerous inquiries about the future operation of the consular offices of the Russian Federation in the Federal Republic of Germany, we would like to offer the following clarifications.

The German authorities have taken the unprecedented decision to withdraw their consent for four of Russia’s five general consulates in the Federal Republic of Germany to operate.
By the end of 2023, the Russian general consulates in Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich
and Frankfurt am Main must cease their activities.

The tasks related to maintaining our country’s political and diplomatic, cultural and humanitarian, historical and commemorative, and consular and legal presence in the Federal Republic of Germany, which these missions have carried out for decades, will continue to be handled only by the Embassy
in Berlin and the General Consulate in Bonn.

This is not our choice. The step taken by Berlin is destructive to Russian-German relations and is deeply regrettable.
Moscow has given its political assessments in official comments,
in particular, in the Russian Foreign Ministry statement of 1 June 2023 and the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s response to a media question of 30 May 2023.

The decision infringes the rights and interests of hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens permanently residing in the Federal Republic of Germany and significantly complicates the provision
of consular services to them. The total number of employees at Russian foreign missions in the Federal Republic of Germany is already considerably lower than that of German missions in Russia. Nevertheless, despite all the restrictions and cutbacks, we were prepared to continue operating all Russian general consulates in the Federal Republic of Germany as before. We have to repeat: this is not our choice.

We are currently facing serious challenges, primarily of an organizational and technical nature, related to the need for the gradual winding down of the general consulates’ operations, the discontinuation of consular services there, the reconfiguration of consular districts, and the transfer of the functions of the missions being closed to Berlin (from Hamburg
and Leipzig) and Bonn (from Munich and Frankfurt am Main).

Efforts are being made to mitigate the negative consequences of the German side’s decision and preserve opportunities for providing consular services to Russian citizens, including by equipping new consular premises and reception windows, organizing mobile consular sessions, and optimizing the operations of visa and service centers, etc. Nevertheless, fully establishing operations under the new conditions will take time, effort, and resources. We ask for your understanding.

Follow our announcements on the official websites of the Embassy and General Consulates.

I take this opportunity to wish you good health and well-being.

© Source: Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Federal Republic of Germany