Russia closes Deutsche Welle office after RT ban in Germany

Russia ordered the closure of the local office of the German international network Deutsche Welle and the banning of its programs in retaliation for the ban of the Russian channel RT in Germany.

The move, announced by the Foreign Ministry, is the first of its kind against a major Western media outlet since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and comes at a time of crisis between Moscow and the West over the situation in Ukraine, which fears a Russian invasion.

For 30 years, the Kremlin had not attacked foreign media despite the fact that Vladimir Putin, in power since the 2000s, has progressively taken control of the Russian media sector.

In recent years, as relations with Western countries worsened, that policy changed and in 2021 a BBC journalist and a Dutch reporter were expelled.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced this Thursday in a statement the “retaliatory measures”, which include the “local office closing” of Deutsche Welle, the “de-accreditation of all employees” Y “the interruption of emissions” on Russian territory.

He also announced the start of a process to recognize Deutsche Welle as “foreign agent”a controversial qualification already applied to several Russian media critical of the government.

According to the ministry, sanctions are also planned against “representatives of German state and public structures involved in restricting the broadcast of RT”.

Measures “excessive”

From Berlin, the president of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg, described the measures against his chain as “incomprehensible and excessive”.

Deutsche Welle “protest against this absurd reaction” and promised “strengthen its (journalistic) coverage of Russia”, added the president of the German chain in a statement.

German Culture and Media Minister Claudia Roth called the decision “unacceptable” and said the two situations are not comparable because the Russian channel operated without a license.

“I call on Russia not to exploit the problem of RT licenses for political purposes”, indicated the minister.

A few hours earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that the German regulatory body’s ban on RT was a “Attack on freedom of expression”.

On Wednesday, that body, called ZAK, banned broadcasts in German of the Russian network RT, both on its website and in a mobile application.

Its satellite broadcasts were already interrupted in December at the request of the German authorities.

Despite the fact that the regulator affirms that “the necessary authorization was not requested or granted” for RT broadcasts, Russia believes that these measures have “political motivations”.

The Russian channel, launched in 2005 under the name of Russia Today, is financed by the state and has networks and websites in several languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.

Russia and Germany have seen their relations deteriorate in recent years, with the case of the poisoning of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny and the conviction of a Russian intelligence officer who carried out a contract killing in the German capital.

The delays in the commissioning of the gas pipeline between the two countries, Nord Stream 2, is also another point of contention.