If Germany Escalates, We Will Respond Accordingly: Russia's Foreign Ministry

In response to the situation surrounding RT DE, Moscow will act in a mirror-like manner. This was stated by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during a briefing.

“If Germany escalates, we will respond in the same way. If Germany moves towards resolving the situation, we are also ready to settle the situation,” she said.

Prior to this, the foreign ministry announced the cessation of Deutsche Welle's broadcasts in Russia, the closure of the broadcaster's office, and the revocation of accreditation for all its employees.

Additionally, the foreign ministry will compile a list of representatives from German state and public institutions involved in restricting RT DE's operations and will impose a ban on their entry into Russia.

Previously, the MAB regulator had prohibited the channel from broadcasting on all platforms. They stated that the media resource had not obtained the necessary permissions, as required under point 52 of the State Contract on the activities of service providers in the media sector.

Apart from satellite broadcasting, the regulator also demanded an end to broadcasts over the internet, through mobile applications, or via the RT News app on smart televisions. Moreover, the German side believes that the channel cannot resort to other permissions that operate within the EU.

However, as reported by Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and “Russia Today,” the resource's broadcasting will continue.

RT launched a new 24-hour news channel in German on December 16. On the same day, it was blocked on YouTube, and later the European satellite operator “Eutelsat” excluded it from broadcasting.

According to MAB director Eva Flexsen, the channel launched a German-language program live without obtaining a license. This prompted an investigation.