MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday announced that it is shutting down the Moscow office of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle and withdrawing its staff’s accreditations, in retaliation for a German move against Russian state RT TV.

A ministry statement said the decision was the first stage of measures in response to Germany ordering RT to cease broadcasting its German-language programmes in the country earlier this week.

The statement said Deutsche Welle will stop broadcasting in Russia, and staff accreditations to work will be withdrawn. It added that authorities will initiate the procedure of declaring Deutsche Welle a foreign agent a designation that carries additional government scrutiny and strong pejorative connotations aimed at discrediting the recipient.

In the past year, dozens of Russian media outlets and individual journalists have been slapped with the foreign agent label, with some saying it has proved crippling for their operation.

The German broadcaster condemned the measures as an absurd reaction in a statement and vowed to continue operating in Russia until receiving an official notice.

We had been expecting some measures by the Russian side but I think this is a total overreaction, Deutsche Welle Director General Peter Limbourg told DW.

Its not even a tit-for-tat measure, if you want to see it like this, he said, adding that one cant compare RT, a government-funded broadcaster, and Deutsche Welle, a public service broadcaster.

And, he added, Russian journalists will continue to work freely in Germany and can broadcast whatever they want, and this is not the case with our colleagues, so its really disappointing.

Limbourg said the company will take legal steps to see whether these measures are legal even from Russian standards. He added that the broadcaster will discuss this also, obviously, with our institutions here in Germany.

He vowed that even if we have to leave the country, we will intensify reporting on the country.

Moscow will also compile a list of German officials and representatives of public organizations involved in banning RT’s broadcasting in Germany and bar them from entering Russia, the statement said. The list will not be released to the public.

A German media regulator ruled that RT lacks the necessary permission to broadcast its German-language programs in the country.

The ZAK regulator, which decides on applications from private organisations to broadcast nationwide in Germany, said that no application has been made or granted for RT DE and it has no other permit that is legitimate under European law.

RT DE started broadcasting its programmes via various channels, including its website and satellite, in mid-December, using a Serbian license. German media regulators then opened proceedings.

RT DE said that its broadcasting is in line with European law, and said its Serbian broadcasting license, granted on Dec 6, is valid until 2029. It said it will challenge the regulators decision in court.

There have been tensions between Germany and Russia over RT DE in recent months. In September, YouTube shut two German RT channels in a move centering on alleged coronavirus misinformation, a decision that drew threats of retaliation from Russia.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2022