Germany summons Russian ambassador over expulsion of ARD journalists
Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev has been called in by Germany's Foreign Ministry following Russia's expulsion of journalists from Germany's public broadcaster ARD. The news was reported by dpa and AFP on Thursday, November 28.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock conveyed strong disapproval, labeling the removal of ARD journalists from Russia as "unacceptable" and denouncing the justification provided by the Russian authorities as "simply false and a lie," as per AFP's report. Baerbock accused Moscow of engaging in a "propaganda battle with false claims."
According to an announcement made on November 27 by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Frank Aischmann and Sven Völler, journalists with German broadcaster ARD, were stripped of their accreditation to work in Russia and subsequently expelled.
"In response to Berlin's unfriendly actions against Russian correspondents, German correspondents have been instructed to surrender their accreditation cards and leave the Russian Federation as a reciprocal measure," she declared.
Zakharova also noted Russia might consider accrediting new ARD employees "only after the German government creates conditions for Russian journalists to work and fully resumes operations of the Channel One bureau in Berlin."
On the same day, journalists from Channel One claimed that they received an "order from German authorities to leave the country." They reportedly received the document on November 26, as stated by Russian state agency TASS, quoting Channel One correspondent Ivan Blagoy. The agency also reported the "closure of Channel One's German bureau."
The German federal government did not issue any directives for Channel One employees to leave the country and has not restricted their professional activities, asserted Christian Wagner, spokesperson for Germany's Foreign Ministry, at a Berlin press conference on November 27. He suggested there might be issues with Channel One employees dealing with migration controls at a local Berlin government level but stressed that no action had been taken by federal authorities against those employees.
Should the reports of ARD journalists' expulsion from Russia be confirmed, the German Foreign Ministry will "strongly condemn" the decision by Russian authorities, stating that the response is entirely disproportionate.
Germany's Journalist Union and the organization Reporters Without Borders have sharply criticized the expulsion of German journalists, calling it a restriction of press freedom.