Russia shuts down German Broadcaster DW's Moscow bureau

In a retaliatory move, Russia ordered the closing the Moscow bureau of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and revoking staff accreditations in Russia, in response to Berlin's ban on the German-language channel of Russian state TV network RT. Deutsche Welle called the decision absurd and a complete overreaction. The German government said the move was unacceptable and had no basis of comparison whatsoever with Berlin's ruling on RT. The moves comes after Germany's broadcasting regulator on Wednesday announced it was banning the transmission of the channel "RT DE" over the lack of a broadcasting licence.
Germany's Culture Minister Claudia Roth said that, she urgently appeal to the Russian side not to abuse RT's licensing problems for a political reaction. The announcement comes with tensions mounting between Russia and the West, particularly over fears of a Russian invasion of Europe's ally Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday it will also terminate the satellite and other broadcasting (output) of Deutsche Welle on Russian territory.Later, the state State Duma, the lower house of parliament, officially banned DW journalists from entering and from receiving accreditation for events.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced that it will begin the process of labelling DW as a "foreign agent," a designation that carries additional government scrutiny. Earlier on Tuesday, a German media regulator ordered the Russian state broadcaster, RT, to stop broadcasting its German-language programmes in the country. The German media regulator stated that the decision was taken as the Russian broadcaster lacks the necessary permission and that no application has been made or granted for RT DE and it does not have "any other permit that is legitimate under European law.” Deutsche Welle -- a German state-owned broadcaster -- has services in 30 languages, including Russian.