MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. The measures that Moscow has taken against Deutsche Welle in response to Germany’s ban of the RT DE TV channel don’t prohibit employees of the media outlet’s Moscow news bureau from working as journalists in Russia, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Commission on Information Policy and Interaction with the Media Alexei Pushkov told TASS on Thursday.
"It only concerns the bureau’s operations and accordingly, all those who work there because credentials will be withdrawn from them. However, it doesn’t mean that these people will be denied the opportunity to carry out journalism activities. As far as I can understand, the measures that the Russian Foreign Ministry announced don’t mean that they will be barred from their profession, we don’t do such things," Pushkov said when asked if employees of Deutsche Welle’s Moscow office would be able to work for other media outlets in Russia.
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. Moscow’s measures also include a procedure to consider if Deutsche Welle should be declared a foreign media outlet acting as a foreign agent. At some point, Russia intends to fully halt Deutsche Welle’s broadcasts in the country.
On Wednesday, Germany’s media watchdog banned RT DE from broadcasting its German language programs in the country, citing the lack of a necessary license.