Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Anna Chaika
00:38 Eva Yakubovska - Board Member of Vitsche
01:22 Robin Wagener - Member of the German Bundestag, Green Party
02:13 Pavel Izvolskiy - Director of the Russian House in Berlin

SCRIPT:

This huge building in a prime location in central Berlin is the property of the Russian Federation.

It's the Russian House of Science and Culture, Europe's largest Russian cultural center. 

The Russian state agency that runs the center has been under EU sanctions since 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine. 

Critics say, it’s being weaponized as a propaganda tool in the war against Ukraine.

Activists from the Ukrainian NGO "Vitsche" have held repeated demonstrations in front of the building.

+++ SOT Eva Yakubovska - Board Member of Vitsche (English) +++
"Many in Berlin don't know that such a big space is being given to the Russian Federation to basically spread propaganda. They are showing movies, documentary movies about the Second World War, but they are stating that the Soviet Union was fighting Nazis back then and now Russia is again fighting Nazi, because Zelenskyy is Nazi."

And it has also recently emerged that the German government is funding the property tax bill using 70,000 euros of tax payers money... as part of an arrangement stemming from a 2013 German-Russian cultural agreement. 

Now Germany's Greens are demanding the Russian House be closed. 

+++ SOT Robin Wagener - Member of the German Bundestag, Green Party +++
"The time has come for us to admit that there isn't any mutual cultural exchange going on here, but that Russian war propaganda is being spread in Germany. For example, through the sale of kids' soap in the shape of tanks and rifles, the sale of books in the bookstore, and events and movies that clearly pursue a certain narrative, including a certain image of Ukraine."

The Russian House director rejects German charges that the Russian House is a 'temple' of propaganda.... and says none of its critics have even been inside to talk to its staff. And that theissue isn't about the buildings' contents but rather its premium location.

He insists the centre is doing nothing illegal.

But is often forced to call in law enforcement because of demonstrators... 

+++ SOT Pavel Izvolskiy - Director of the Russian House in Berlin +++
"When protesters set off sirens on the street, we call the politice. Or when people are verbally harassed entering or leaving the building. Often they themselves call the police."

During the interview, Pavel Izvolskiy spoke of peace. Of cooperation. Of cultural ties. But one word he carefully avoided: war.

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