Germany has banned Russian state-run broadcaster RT’s German-language channel, the country’s broadcasting regulator said Wednesday.
The move comes after Germany’s MABB media watchdog took RT DE off the air from Europe’s satellite network in mid-December, less than a week after it launched. RT DE remained accessible online and via a mobile app.
Germany’s Commission on Licensing and Supervision (ZAK) said it prohibited RT DE from broadcasting because it “has not been granted or applied for” a license required under media law.
“The organization and distribution of [RT DE] must therefore be discontinued via live stream on the internet, via the ‘RT News’ mobile and smart TV app and via satellite,” ZAK said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week called on his German counterpart Annalena Baerbok to refrain from “discriminating against RT” and warned of Moscow’s “response.”
An unnamed Russian government source told the news agency that Moscow could retaliate with “measures against German journalists working in Russia.”
RT chief editor Margarita Simonyan called Germany’s move “complete nonsense.”
Deputy chief editor Anna Belkina vowed to appeal the ban in German court while continuing to broadcast from Moscow, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The channel said it is headquartered in Moscow, and has pointed to a Serbian license for cable and satellite transmission, which RT says allows it to be broadcast in Germany.
The regulator however said the channel’s operator, based in Berlin, does not have a “legitimate permit under European law.”
The head of Serbia’s Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) told Russian state media in December that it saw no reason for Germany’s ban.
Launched in 2005 as “Russia Today,” state-funded RT has expanded with broadcasters and websites in languages including English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
It has been accused by Western countries of distributing disinformation and Kremlin-friendly propaganda.
It has generated controversy in many countries, including the United States, where it was required to register as a “foreign agent,” and in Britain, where authorities have threatened to revoke its broadcasting license.
The channel has been banned in several countries, including the ex-Soviet republics of Lithuania and Latvia.
AFP contributed reporting.
(c) The Moscow Times
“The head of Serbia’s Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) told Russian state media in December that it saw no reason for Germany’s ban.”
Nobody really cares what you think, just deposit the rubles into your bank account.
Serbia was on the right track until Zoran Djindjić got murdered. No doubts who gave the orders.
“…it prohibited RT DE from broadcasting because it “has not been granted or applied for” a license required under media law.”
Once again we have the Moskali thinking they are above the law and don’t respect a foreign country. Then threatening the other country! All instead of just applying for a damn license and following the rules.
That really doesn’t matter anymore. Germanystan is already a mafia agent, so having Ruskie propaganda in the trash country or not is wholly irrelevant.