MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. The non-extension of a Russian visa to reporter Eva Hartog, a Dutch citizen, should not raise questions in the context of the persecution of Russian journalists in the EU, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.

"Due to the harassment of the Russian reporters and media on the part of the EU joined by the Dutch government, the non-extension of a visa to a Dutch citizen should not raise any questions in the context of Russia’s response measures," the diplomat noted.

She stressed that the real purpose of Hartog’s activities in Russia is questioned by the Russian side while the journalist herself "has never been accredited by Belgium’s Politico media outlet with the Russian Foreign Ministry." "Since 2019, Eva Hartog has been working in Russia with the accreditation of De Groene Amsterdammer, a Dutch news outlet. In 2022, only five articles with her byline were published which cannot but raise questions about the real purpose of her activities. That said, last March, having stated her aspiration to get as far from Russia as possible in her own article, Hartog left our country and has been away until the end of 2022," the diplomat pointed out.

Earlier, Politico Europe reported Russia’s decision not to extend a visa to its correspondent Eva Hartog. According to the newspaper, Hartog is a Dutch citizen with Russian roots who came to Moscow in 2013. She first worked as editor at the Moscow Times and since 2019, she has been writing for the Dutch news magazine De Groene Amsterdammer, later becoming Politico Europe’s Russia correspondent.