Moscow to shut down Deutsche Welle bureau
Moscow, Feb. 3: Russia said on Thursday it is closing the Moscow bureau of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and revoking staff accreditations in Russia, in response to Berlin’s ban on the German-language channel of Russian state TV network RT.
Deutsche Welle called the decision “absurd” and a “complete overreaction”.
The German government said the move was unacceptable and had “no basis of comparison whatsoever” with Berlin's ruling on RT.
“I urgently appeal to the Russian side not to abuse RT's licensing problems for a political reaction,” Germany's Culture Minister Claudia Roth said. The announcement comes with tensions mounting between Russia and the West, particularly over fears of a Russian invasion of Europe's ally Ukraine.
The closure also highlights the Kremlin's increasingly hostile position towards foreign media in the wake of several high-profile expulsions of prominent foreign journalists.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday it will also “terminate the satellite and other broadcasting (output) of Deutsche Welle” on Russian territory.
It added that it was initiating the process of designating the German media a “foreign agent” and said that further reciprocal measures will be announced in the future.
Deutsche Welle — a German state-owned broadcaster — has services in 30 languages, including Russian.
The moves comes after Germany's broadcasting regulator on Wednesday announced it was banning the transmission of the channel “RT DE” over the lack of a broadcasting licence. Deutsche Welle’s chief Peter Limbourg said the order was an “absurd reaction of the Russian government”.
The broadcaster also vowed to keep reporting from its Moscow bureau until the Russian order is officially served.