Russia said on Wednesday that it would expel one correspondent and one cameraman from Germany's ARD in a symmetrical response to German moves against journalists from Russia's Channel One that Berlin denied undertaking.
WDR, a regional arm of ARD responsible for the broadcasting association's news output from Russia, criticised Russia's decision to strip the two German journalists of their permits to work in the country.
"This is a drastic step. It restricts our ability to report from Moscow once again. We have been dealing with intimidation and restrictions on our reporting from Moscow for almost three years," said WDR programming director Joerg Schoenenborn.
WDR is assessing how it might continue its work in Moscow, it said in a statement
Pushing back against Russia's version of events, a German foreign ministry spokesperson denied that the Channel One office in Berlin was being shuttered, and said the Russian journalists' departure was related to residence law matters.
"Russian journalists can report freely and unhindered in Germany. A whole series of Russian journalists are also accredited with the Federal Press Office," the spokesperson told a regular government news conference.
Residence law falls within the competences of the regional states, or Laender, which make decisions independently of the federal government in Berlin, he added.
The spokesperson said the government was in close contact with German media in Moscow because of concerns that Russia was taking "very vehement" action against journalists.
REPORT FROM RUSSIA
Channel One had reported that Germany was closing its Berlin bureau and that two Russian journalists, a correspondent and cameraman, working for the channel had been ordered to leave Germany on security grounds.
"In response to the ban by German authorities on the presence and work of Channel One correspondents, we are forced to take reciprocal measures against journalists from the Moscow office of the German media group ARD," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.
She said the two ARD staff had been ordered to hand over their accreditation documents and to leave Russia.
However, Zakharova said Moscow would consider accrediting new ARD journalists if Germany provided conditions for their Russian counterparts from Channel One to carry out "normal work" there.
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