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Russia said a day earlier it was shutting down German
broadcaster Deutsche Welle's operations in Moscow and stripping
its staff of their accreditation in a retaliatory move after
Berlin banned broadcasts by Russia's RT DE channel.
Deutsche Welle staff were due to hand back their accreditations
to the foreign ministry on Friday. The broadcaster said in a
story on its website that its Moscow team had stopped work early
on Friday.
The media dispute has soured relations between Russia and
Germany at a time when ties are already under strain over the
timing of the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which
requires a green light from a German regulator.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to visit Moscow on Feb. 15
and hold talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking about the media dispute, Maria Zakharova, a
spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, told her weekly
news briefing that the ball was now in Germany's court.
"If Germany escalates, we will respond in the same way. If
Germany goes for a normalisation of the situation, we will
respond in the same way, we're just as ready to normalise the
situation," said Zakharova.
Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of
parliament, said Putin and Scholz would discuss the row when
they met. He said Russia would be ready to cancel its decision
on Deutsche Welle if Germany changed its stance on RT DE.
Irina Filatova, who works for Deutsche Welle's Russian service
in Germany, said Russia's decision had been "a huge shock" for
staff.
"We clearly expected some measures after RT was banned in
Germany. But we never expected that these retaliatory measures
by the Russian authorities would be so hard," she said.
A German government spokesman has described the move against DW
as "purely political".
Germany's MABB media watchdog and Commission for Licensing and
Supervision (ZAK) of media institutions said this week that RT
DE could not broadcast in Germany using a Serbian licence.
Zakharova said RT was facing mounting pressure in several
countries in the West, and that Moscow would respond against any
British moves against Russian media outlets.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)
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