Russia expels ARD employees – Baerbock criticizes the approach

The Foreign Office has summoned the Russian ambassador in Berlin because of the expulsion of two ARD employees by the Russian authorities. “Russia’s expulsion of the ARD employees is unacceptable and the justification is simply wrong and a lie. We condemn this unequivocally,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Berlin.

The Green Party politician accused the Russian government of a “propaganda battle with false claims.” “It is simply wrong that we have restrictions on press freedom in Germany or Europe,” she said.

On Wednesday, Russia ordered the expulsion of two ARD employees – a correspondent and a technician. They must return their accreditation and leave Russia by December 16th. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this was in response to German authorities expelling correspondents from Russian state television. The TV station 1. Kanal had previously reported that it had been asked by German authorities to close its office in Berlin – but the German authorities disagreed.

In response to a DPA request, the responsible state immigration office in Berlin said that the authority had denied residence permits to five people from several Russian media outlets, including four journalists and a wife. According to the information, some of the legal cases are still open. The reason given for one of the cases was that the Russian media spread misinformation and propaganda to discredit the West and the EU. The authority also relied on the EU and a package of sanctions that also affects Russian media.

Baerbock pointed out that this was a constitutional procedure and that appeals could be lodged against the decision of the State Immigration Office.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said in Moscow that the Russian broadcaster’s journalists in Germany had been harassed for over a year. Moscow warned the German Foreign Ministry six months ago that this would result in a reaction, said Sakharova. Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechayev will now remind the Foreign Office of this process.

After the start of the war against Ukraine, Russia made the work of foreign journalists much more difficult. The accreditations required for their work are now only granted for three months for correspondents from so-called “unfriendly countries” instead of one year. In addition, the dangers of reporting have increased: The Russian secret service FSB arrested the “Wall Street Journal” correspondent Evan Gershkovich in March 2023 for alleged espionage – a Russian court sentenced him to 16 years in prison for this. He was only released in the summer in a major prisoner exchange.

Shortly before the war, the Russian authorities had closed the Deutsche Welle office in Moscow. Moscow justified this with a broadcast ban on the German-language service of the Kremlin station RT.