MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Deutsche Welle (DW) journalists will be able to highlight German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Russia, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"Naturally, yes, if the press pool includes Deutsche Welle representatives, they will be able to work," he pledged when asked by TASS whether DW journalists would be accredited to Scholz’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 15.
"It is quite another thing that the company (DW - TASS) will be banned from having an office here and will be banned from broadcasting in Russia," Peskov noted.
German Government Spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Saturday that DW journalists had been invited to highlight Scholtz’s visit to Moscow.
Last Wednesday, Germany’s media watchdog banned RT DE from broadcasting in the German language in Germany, citing the lack of a license as the reason.
In response, Moscow said the following day that it was shutting down a DW bureau in Russia as the first stage of its possible retaliatory measures. Other measures may 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, entailing bans on entering Russia for those involved. Moscow may also look at declaring DW a foreign media outlet acting as a foreign agent. And ultimately, Russia may fully halt Deutsche Welle’s broadcasts in the country.