ロシア駐在のドイツ人公務員、月内に国外退去　現地採用職員は失職

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ロシア政府はドイツ大使館など公的機関に勤務するドイツ人公務員らを対象に、今月中に国外に退去するよう通告してきた。ドイツ外務省が２７日、明らかにした。（写真は資料写真）
　同省によると、ロシアは６月以降、同国内のドイツの公館、教育・文化施設の職員数を数百人規模で削減したい考え。対象は大使館や領事館、国際文化交流機関「ゲーテ・インスティトゥート」、ドイツ人学校など。ロシアの教育機関に雇用されている職員も含まれる。
　ドイツ人、現地採用のロシア人職員ともに削減される。ドイツ人職員は６月１日までの国外退去が求められている。ロシア人職員は国外退去の必要はないが、勤務先が雇用できなくなる結果、失職する。
　外務省はロシア側の措置について「一方的で不当かつ理解しがたい決定だ」と批判した。
　先月にはドイツが、ロシアの諜報（ちょうほう）要員を減らすため同国外交官を大量に追放。ロシアも報復として約２０人のドイツ大使館職員を追放している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/29-17:14）

Hundreds of civil servants and local employees working for German institutions in Russia will need to leave the country or lose their jobs in the coming days following an order by Moscow, Germany's foreign ministry said Saturday.
Starting from June, Russia will slash the number of people that Germany can employ in its embassies or institutions in Russia in the education and cultural sectors, the ministry said.
Several hundred people are affected, including officials from the embassy and consulate, but mostly employees of the Goethe cultural institute in the country, German schools, nurseries and teachers working in Russian schools, it added.
Both German and local Russian employees are affected, the ministry said, without giving precise figures on each category of staff.
German employees will have to quit the country by June 1.
Russian employees should not be required to leave the country, but will lose their jobs since German institutions will no longer be able to employ them, the ministry said -- clarifying initial indications the locals would have to leave too.
The news was first revealed on Saturday in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which spoke of a diplomatic declaration of war by Moscow against Berlin.
This is a unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision, the German foreign ministry said in a statement.
A close economic partner with Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine, Germany has since moved away from Moscow, financially and militarily supporting Kyiv in the conflict.
Since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian espionage in Germany has grown at a rate rarely equalled in recent years, according to German security services.
- Expulsions -
In mid-April, Germany expelled a number of Russian diplomats to reduce the presence of intelligence services which prompted a tit-for-tat response from Moscow which booted out some 20 German embassy staff.
The Russian foreign ministry in April set a ceiling for the number of German diplomats and representatives of public organisations allowed to stay in Russia or be employed by German institutions, the German foreign ministry said.
This limit set by Russia from the beginning of June implies major cuts in all areas of (Germany's) presence in Russia, the ministry said.
German authorities have tried in recent weeks to get the Russian ministry to reverse its decision, but without success, Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.
Berlin will aim to ensure a real balance in its response, the foreign ministry said.
In spring 2022, Germany already expelled some 40 Russian diplomats which Berlin believed to represent a threat to its security.
Before Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russia was Germany's main supplier of gas and a major supplier of oil.
However Germany stopped supplies and has since become one of the biggest providers of arms and financial support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, souring relations which had been warming over decades.
Last October, the head of Germany's cybersecurity agency, Arne Schoenbohm, was fired after news reports revealed his proximity to a cybersecurity consultancy believed to have contacts with Russian intelligence services.
A month later, a German reserve officer was handed a suspended prison sentence of a year and nine months for spying for Russia.