MOSCOW, Sept 3, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Russia will close multiple branches of Germany's cultural nonprofit Goethe Institute in response to Germany ordering the closure of a Russian-backed cultural centre in Berlin, Moscow's foreign minister said Thursday.

"The Germans have branches of the Goethe Institute here... Of course, they'll be closed once our cultural centre has been forced out over there," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to the state TASS news agency.