Germany has denied claims made by Russian public broadcaster Channel 1 that the EU country has ordered the closure of its Berlin bureau, insisting that the allegations are untrue.
Christian Wagner, the official representative of the German Foreign Ministry, reacted to the claims at a Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, saying, “Russian statements are not true. The government did not close the bureau of this channel. Russian journalists can, as before, broadcast freely and unhindered in Germany.”
EU sanctions, which censor broadcasting from certain Russian media outlets within the bloc, apply only to the transmission of content, Wagner said. He emphasized that this does not prohibit the country’s journalists from operating in Germany. “The issue may be related to legal provisions concerning the presence of foreign nationals in the country,” Wagner added.
The controversy began when Channel 1, a major publicly-funded Russian broadcaster, reported on Wednesday morning that its Berlin bureau had been ordered to shut its doors and that journalists Ivan Blagoy and Dmitry Volkov would need to leave the country by mid-December.
According to Channel 1, the closure followed the station’s report on the detention of Nikolai Gaiduk, a Ukrainian-born German national accused by Moscow of espionage. The broadcaster described the expulsion of its staff as “punishment for truth and professionalism.”
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry quickly announced retaliatory measures, with spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stating that Moscow would expel two journalists from Germany’s state-backed ARD media group. She added that Russia would reconsider the accreditation of new ARD staff only once the situation with Channel 1 was resolved.
Wagner, in his comments, also noted that other Russian journalists remain accredited in Germany. He emphasized the German government’s condemnation of the expulsion of ARD journalists by Russia, labeling it a “mirror measure” to the supposed closure of Channel 1’s bureau.