DW journalists invited to Moscow to accompany Chancellor Scholz

Representatives of the media company Deutsche Welle are invited to accompany German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his visit to Moscow on February 15. On February 5, he wrote about this on his page in Twitter German cabinet spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

“To avoid any misunderstanding: Deutsche Welle has been invited to the Chancellor’s trip to Moscow,” he warned.

So Hebeshtreit commented on the data of the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel that the government press department headed by him allegedly refused Deutsche Welle the participation of its representatives on a trip to Russia.

The program of Scholz’s visit to Moscow includes negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier Saturday, Washington backed Deutsche Welle after Russian authorities retaliated by restricting the German media company’s operations in Russia.

Also on February 5, the representative of the EU Foreign Service, Peter Stano, said that the European Union considers unacceptable Russia’s decision to close the office of the DW television and radio company.

The corresponding decision was taken by the Russian authorities a day earlier. This measure was introduced as part of the first phase of response to the ban on RT DE broadcasting in Germany. On February 4, the DW bureau closed.

On the same day, Vyacheslav Nikonov, the first deputy head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, said, commenting on the EU statement about the unacceptability of the initiative, that Russia’s decision to close the office of the Deutsche Welle television and radio company was absolutely necessary. According to the parliamentarian, against the backdrop of Germany’s actions, it is very strange to hear calls for Russia not to take the announced decision, as well as statements about its unacceptability.

The closure of DW was preceded by a statement by the German authorities to ban the broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel on the Eutelsat satellite, smart TV, the RT website and application, and the Odyssey platform. RT expressed the opinion that the actions of the German media regulator are illegal and violate the European Convention on Cross-border Television (ECTT).