By The Moscow Times | Created at 2024-11-28 09:45:21 | Updated at 2024-11-28 11:26:12
1 hour ago
Authorities in Berlin have refused to extend the residence permits of three current and one former employee of Russian state media outlets, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed German official.
Two of the journalists work for Russia’s state broadcaster Channel One, which accused Germany of shutting down its Berlin bureau on Wednesday. Germany’s Federal Foreign Office denied that claim, suggesting the issue related to the journalists’ “residence rights.”
RIA Novosti, citing an unnamed official in the Berlin Senate, reported that the Berlin Immigration Office chose not to renew the residence permits of a Channel One correspondent and cameraman last week. That decision was allegedly based on EU sanctions adopted in December 2022, which, among other things, banned several Russian news outlets in the bloc.
While the decision is not legally classified as expulsion, RIA Novosti stated that Berlin’s refusal effectively prevents the journalists from working in Germany, describing it as “tantamount to expulsion.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday it would expel two employees of Germany’s ARD public broadcaster in retaliation.
RIA Novosti also reported that Berlin declined to extend a residence permit for a correspondent with Ruptly, a news agency owned by the Kremlin-funded RT network. The Berlin Immigration Office reportedly argued the journalist’s presence “threatens Germany’s interests” due to RT’s role in spreading “disinformation and propaganda to discredit the so-called West and the EU.”
The Ruptly correspondent, identified only as a Brazilian citizen, was first notified of the decision on Feb. 22. His appeal is currently under review by a higher administrative court.
In September, the Berlin Immigration Office similarly denied residency extensions for a former Rossiya Segodnya media group employee and his wife.
Ruptly, RT and RIA Novosti are all subsidiaries of Rossiya Segodnya.
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