DW Broadcaster Announces Closure of Its Bureau in Moscow

On Thursday, Moscow said that it is closing the Deutsche Welle’s bureau in the country and annulling the accreditation of its employees, among other measures, in response to the RT DE ban in Germany.

The Moscow bureau of Deutsche Welle (DW) closed after Russia decided to forbid the media company from broadcasting in the country, according to the DW website.

"The decision of the Russian government to close the Moscow office of Deutsche Welle and revoke the accreditation of the journalists of the German broadcaster in Russia came into force on Friday at 9:00 local time (06:00 UTC)," Deutsche Welle said in a statement.

In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that journalists from Deutsche Welle's Moscow office are due to surrender their accreditation on Friday, but that it doesn't mean they have to leave Russia.

According to her, "about 19 people work in the office, 16 of them are citizens of Russia".

She added that neither she nor her colleagues from the press centre had received any requests from Deutsche Welle journalists.

On 3 February, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia, in response to the cessation of broadcasting of the RT DE channel, was closing the Deutsche Welle correspondent office in Russia and cancelling the accreditation of all employees of its Russian bureau.

On Tuesday, German media regulator MABB officially banned RT DE from broadcasting in Germany, saying that the broadcaster did not have the necessary permission. RT DE said it will appeal the decision in court.

Moscow has described the ban as an infringement on freedom of speech.

The launch of RT DE has been surrounded by controversy in the European Union. In August, RT DE was refused a broadcasting license in Luxembourg after reportedly receiving some data from the German authorities. In September, YouTube removed two RT DE channels without the right of recovery for alleged "violations of community rules".