Kremlin shuts down CBC's Moscow bureau, cancels Canadian journalists' visas
Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it was closing the Moscow bureau of CBC and withdrawing visas and accreditation from the public broadcaster's journalists after Ottawa banned Russian state TV station Russia Today.
“With regret we continue to notice open attacks on the Russian media from the countries of the so-called collective West who call themselves civilized,” said Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
“A decision has been taken to make retaliatory, I underscore retaliatory, measures in relation to the actions of Canada: the closure of the Moscow bureau of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including the annulation of the accreditations and visas of their journalists.”
CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said the broadcaster was “deeply disappointed” its Russian bureau was being forced to close after 44 years.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time in the history of CBC/Radio-Canada that a foreign government has forced the closure of one of our bureaus.