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Diplomat says Bild crossed moral line by publication on Russia’s ‘plan to invade Ukraine’

Maria Zakharova added that new moves against Russian media to come at cost

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The Bild newspaper has crossed all moral boundaries by publishing an article about Russia’s alleged plan to invade Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday in an interview with the Soloviev Live YouTube channel.

"It’s been a while since we’ve been meticulous with words and phrases in order to be delicate in some way, not to take offence and proceed from the best intentions of partners. Currently, they have crossed all possible lines of human, genuine morality and ethics. Today, [the German newspaper] Bild published an article of an allegedly detailed plan of attack," she said. "From its point of view, the Russian President [Vladimir Putin] drew helmets himself, muzzles <...>, some cartridges, calibers, and so on."

Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly announced in the west and in Kiev recently. Moscow has repeatedly rejected such speculation.

Zakharova added that Moscow took retaliatory measures towards German broadcaster Deutsche Welle following Berlin’s decision to ban RT DE in Germany to demonstrate that further steps in this direction will come at a cost.

"We respond, we’ve been taught, we are doing this to demonstrate that further steps in this direction will come at a cost," the diplomat stressed.

On February 2, the Commission on Licensing and Supervision banned the broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel in Germany since there was no required license under the media law.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced earlier that Moscow was shutting down Deutsche Welle’s news bureau in Russia as the first stage of retaliatory measures following the German regulator’s move to ban RT DE in Germany. Other measures will include the withdrawal of credentials from all staff members at Deutsche Welle’s Russian bureau and the launch of a process aimed at identifying Germany’s government and public agencies involved in banning RT DE from broadcasting and putting other kinds of pressure on the Russian media outlet, who will eventually be barred from entering Russia.

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