Russia Today Excluded from Broadcasting in Germany

The television channel, which serves as a Kremlin propaganda tool abroad, had begun its diffusion in German on December 16 from Serbia, but without authorization from the Berlin Regulator.

Le Monde with AFP

Germany has obtained the interruption by Eutelsat of the satellite diffusion of the Russian Russia Today (RT) information chain in German, said Wednesday, December 22 the German media controller (MABB).

The RT string, Kremlin propaganda tool abroad, had started its broadcast in German on 16 December by satellite from Serbia. But “no broadcasting authorization has been requested or granted by the MABB” for this program, specifies the German regulator.

This suspension is part of a climate already stretched between Germany and Russia. In recent days, Berlin and Moscow have made reciprocal evictions of diplomats in relation to the murder by an agent of the Russian secret services of a Chechen exile in Berlin.

Bypass of the German law

At its launch, RT had explained to issue through a Serbian license and that it was also valid in Germany, under the Chain, the European Convention on Transboundary Television (CETT). The RT chain had also applied for a satellite dissemination license in Luxembourg in June, in order to circumvent the German legislation, but “Luxembourg had rejected the notification by referring to the legal sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany”, recalls the German authority.

On December 16, the day of the launch, YouTube suspended the German account of Russia Today for violation of its Terms of Use. The Russian information chain in German, however, remains visible through its website.

Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, had called at the end of “discrimination” against RT. Speaking on RT Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, stated that he could not exclude retaliation for blocking satellite broadcast. “From the beginning, the German authorities did everything they could to give a bad image of your channel (RT) in the German company,” he complained. “Until recently, we did not want to borrow the same path, stifling the press … But I can not exclude that we react,” said Lavrov.

/Media reports.