Russia Bans Deutsche Welle After Germany Forces RT Off Air

(Bloomberg) -- Russia will close Deutsche Welle's Moscow bureau and revoke the accreditations of all its employees, escalating tensions with Germany amid a standoff with the West over Ukraine.

The German state-supported broadcaster will be investigated as a “foreign agent” and its broadcasts in Russia will be blocked after Russia's German-language RT DE was ordered off the air, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. Further retaliatory steps will be announced later, the ministry said, without elaborating.

The Russian move is “completely unfounded and represents a renewed strain on German-Russian relations,” a spokeswoman for Germany's Foreign Ministry said by email.

On Tuesday, a non-governmental German commission that regulates media said it prohibited RT from broadcasting because the organization lacks a required license. The decision, which RT is appealing, would cover RT DE's web-based livestreams, productions carried on its mobile and TV app and satellite transmissions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said forcing RT DE off the air is “a violation of freedom of speech.”

Media Crackdown

Deutsche Welle called the Russian move an overreaction and said it would appeal the decision, Ria Novosti reported.

Russia has used the foreign agent label to crack down on independent local media over the last year, forcing several outlets to close or adhere to cumbersome reporting requirements. It has also targeted RFE/RL and other affiliates funded by the U.S. government, but they continue to operate domestically.

In August, Russia expelled a British Broadcasting Co. reporter, Sarah Rainsford, in what it said was retaliation for the U.K. refusing to issue visas to its reporters.