Berlin closes the Russian House, a huge cultural centre and, it is believed, a hub for spies

Berlin. Seven floors totalling 29,000 square metres, commercial premises, a 1,700-square-metre foyer, theatre halls, exhibition spaces, a library, a café, and more than 60 flats capable of accommodating over 100 people. In response to Moscow’s hybrid warfare attacks, the German government announced on 1 September the closure of the Russisches Haus, the Russian House. This is not a small association, but an entire building owned by the Russian state on Berlin’s central Friedrichstrasse. An institution situated not far from the Russian Embassy itself on Unter den Linden and a stone’s throw from the capital’s government centre. In July 2026, the German Ministry of Digital Affairs even opened offices on Taubenstrasse, in the building adjacent to the Russisches Haus.

Established under the communist GDR in 1984, the Russian House of Science and Culture was originally called the Soviet House and has always been suspected of also serving as a spy hub. There used to be a statue of Lenin at the entrance to the House, which, following the fall of the Wall, was replaced with a more reassuring bust of Yuri Gagarin. In 2011, when Germany still believed it could democratise Moscow, the then German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and the ever-present Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed a new agreement governing the presence of the Russian House in Berlin and, conversely, that of the German Goethe-Instituts in Russia. That agreement has been automatically renewed every five years since 2012, and Berlin will now give notice of termination of the renewal by December, with effect from June 2027.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Germany had been cautious regarding the Russian Cultural Centre precisely to protect the Goethe Institutes in Russia, but these are now subject to such severe restrictions imposed by Moscow that realpolitik has ceased to be expedient. The Russian House is already affected by European sanctions, which in 2022 targeted Rossotrudnitschestwo, the Russian federal agency that manages the cultural centre. The Administrative Court of Munich ruled in 2025 that the Russian House itself would fall under the sanctions, but the ruling is not yet final. The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office has also opened an investigation into the Russian House, but the proceedings remain difficult because the House’s management enjoys diplomatic status. A second agreement from 2013 still requires Berlin to pay the property tax on the building, amounting to 70,000 euros in 2026. Some argue that Germany is therefore paying taxes to an alleged spy den.

It has been claimed for years that the Russisches Haus is also a centre for espionage. In a new investigation, Correctiv reports the testimony of a German intelligence officer, who explains that the building has long been under the constant surveillance of Germany’s domestic intelligence services and that, for a period, members of the Russian intelligence services were also said to have been staying there. In July, an expulsion order issued by the French Ministry of the Interior against the Russian influencer Xenia Fedorova stated that the Russian House in Berlin “is used as a cover by the Russian secret services” and that Fedorova herself had reportedly been aiming for a leadership role at the Berlin centre. As far back as 2014, the centre hosted events featuring the far-right extremist Jürgen Elsässer, a well-known pro-Putin German publisher. Last week, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed the contents of a secret 1968 KGB manual that explained exactly how to utilise Soviet cultural centres abroad. Today, these practices may be employed by the services that have access to the Russisches Haus. Propaganda targeting compatriots, surveillance and active measures against Russian dissidents abroad, the infiltration of agents under the guise of cultural activities, and intelligence gathering. Contemporary Russian intelligence has always drawn heavily on the KGB’s legacy. The expulsions of diplomats accused of espionage have reduced Russia’s scope for action under diplomatic cover on German territory.

The consular presence, too, is in inexorable decline. Moscow used to have five consulates-general in Germany; only one remains – in Bonn – which is due to close on 18 September, precisely as part of Germany’s new measures against hybrid warfare. Only the Russian embassy on Unter den Linden will remain. Making even greater use of cultural institutions has thus become almost second nature for the Russian services, at least when they are still seeking diplomatic cover.

Following the announcement of the imminent closure of the Russisches Haus, the German political scene has seen a range of reactions. Conservative and liberal politicians, as well as the Greens and the Social Democrats, have expressed satisfaction. The most vehement opposition to the closure, however, comes from the sovereignist left-wing BSW and the far-right AfD – that is, the two German parties most actively pro-Russian.