The on Wednesday announced the expulsion of two reporters in a tit-for-tat maneuver after Berlin recently informed two employees at Russian state broadcaster Channel One that they would have to leave Germany.
Wednesday’s expulsion is the latest in a series of back and forth moves that have seen journalists spirited out of Russia after losing accreditation.
, for instance, was shut down shortly before after Berlin had banned the Russian state channel RT — which Berlin accused of spreading lies and propaganda.
on Wednesday confirmed that a correspondent and a cameraman in their employ had been informed that they would have to leave the country by December 16.
ARD said the expulsion “marks a new low point in relations with Russia,” where “pressure on Western journalists has continued to increase.”
“We’ve had to deal with intimidation and chicanery for nearly three years now while reporting from Moscow,” an ARD statement read.
Russia claims it is merely responding in kind
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday said, “We have to adopt retaliatory measures towards journalists of the Moscow office of ARD.”
Zakharova said the ARD employees had been banned “in response to the ban by German authorities on Channel One correspondents staying and working in Germany,” which she called, “the latest unfriendly actions by Berlin towards Russian media.”
Zakharova said Moscow would consider renewing accreditation for the two ARD journalists but only if Berlin allowed Channel One to reopen.
Germany rejects Moscow’s claims, says Russian reporters lacked proper residence permits
Germany has vehemently rejected the claim that it shut down Channel One’s bureau and said it would object to Wednesday’s expulsion in the “strongest possible terms.”
A spokesman for Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said “the federal government has not closed the office of this broadcaster [Channel One],” adding that Russian journalists were free to operate in the country.
Commenting on the issue of legal residency and work permits, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, “if you don’t meet the requirements of residence law, then it doesn’t help to work as a journalist.”
Also on Wednesday, Channel One correspondent Ivan Blagoi said that he and his cameraman had been informed that they would have to leave Germany by mid-December, claiming authorities told him “the decision is motivated by the interests of security of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Blagoi also claimed that his expulsion notice came “almost immediately” after his report on a German citizen detained by Russian intelligence services on sabotage charges was aired. He did concede, however, that his cameraman had repeatedly run into trouble over his visa status in the past.
Broadcasting propaganda to ethnic Russians and former Soviet citizens in Germany
Germany has regularly complained that Russia media outlets broadcasting on its territory are spreading lies and propaganda, largely to Russians or former Soviet citizens now living in the West, as well as a variety of disgruntled Germans on the far left and far right of the political spectrum, for instance by trumpeting President ‘s false justification for invading Ukraine — namely that Moscow’s “special military operation” was envisioned solely to rid Ukraine of “Nazis.”
Germany’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called out Russia for its as Moscow, among other things, now requires journalists from “unfriendly” countries to renew their press accreditation every three months rather than annually.
And whereas numerous or , Western reporters have tended to be expelled, or, as in the case of Wall Street Journal reporter , arrested for espionage and jailed.
Gershkovich, who was eventually released in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the US on August 1, was arrested by Russian intelligence officers in March 2023 and sentenced to more than 16 years in jail.
js/msh (AFP, dpa)
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