In retaliation for the ban on Russia Today decided by Germany, Russia ordered the closure of the office of the German chain in Moscow.
Le Monde with AFP
Russia ordered, Thursday, February 3, closing the local office of the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, in retaliation for the ban on the Russian channel RT airing in Germany. This is a first for a major Western media in the post-Soviet history.
The decision of Russia is “unacceptable,” responded Thursday Minister of Culture and German media, Claudia Roth. She emphasized that RT German broadcast “unlicensed and [had] not ask for permission,” in contrast to Deutsche Welle in Russia.
This closure by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is announced in crisis between Moscow and the West about Ukraine, which feared a Russian invasion. Over the past three years, the Kremlin was kept attacking the foreign media, while the Russian media sector was, he developed not since Vladimir Putin took control of the country in 2000.
“nonsense reaction”
A measure of worsening relations with the West, the policy has evolved, including the expulsion of a BBC journalist and a Dutch reporter 2021. “retaliatory measures” announced by Moscow Thursday involve “office is closed” local Deutsche Welle, the “withdrawal of accreditation of all employees” of the office and “interruption of dissemination” of this media on Russian territory.
For his part, the Director General of DW, Peter Limbourg, protested in a statement against “the absurd reaction”, which has not yet been officially notified. “The actions of the Russian authorities are incomprehensible and excessive”, has he criticized.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced the launch of a procedure to recognize Deutsche Welle as a “foreign agent” infamous and controversial label already glued to several Russian media critical of power.
A “first step”
According to Moscow, sanctions are planned against the “representatives of the German state and public structures involved in restricting the spread of RT”, which promotes chain including the Kremlin’s position abroad. The Russian authorities have indicated that those measures were part of a “first step”, promising an additional response “in due course”.
A few hours earlier, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, lambasted the broadcast ban by the German regulator to RT as an “attack on freedom of expression.”
On Wednesday, Moscow also promised punishment against online platforms having “deleted arbitrarily and unjustifiably the chain accounts,” an apparent reference to the US giant YouTube, which suspended December 16 account German RT the day of its commissioning. Satellite broadcasting chain in Germany was interrupted soon after.
On Wednesday, the German regulator ZAK banned the distribution of RT Deutsch on its website and a mobile application, arguing that “the necessary authorization” was “neither sought nor granted.” Moscow believes that this decision actually is “motivated by political considerations.”
“foreign agent”
Russia and Germany have seen their relations deteriorate in recent years, Berlin has established such that the opponent Alexei Navalny was poisoned and sentenced a Russian agent who performed services in the German capital murder alleged on order Russian power. Delays in the pipeline commissioning between the two countries, Nord Stream 2, also upset Moscow.
RT chain, opened in 2005 under the name of Russia Today, is funded by the Russian state. It developed in several languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.
RT sparked controversy in several countries, including the United States, where it is registered as a “foreign agent”, and in Britain, where authorities have threatened to revoke its broadcasting license. The channel has been banned in several countries including Lithuania and Latvia. In France, RT is widely accused by authorities of being a Kremlin disinformation tool.