Russia says it plans to call German ambassador for alleged harassing its journalists

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow (Reuters) – Russia will soon call the German ambassador to inform him in response to the harassment of Russian journalists, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

Russia repeatedly clashed with Germany on the issue and expelled a German journalist and photographer in November last year, a symmetrical response to Germany’s response to Russian state television journalists.

Germany said the departure of Russians is related to residence rules and Russian journalists can report freely in the country.

Zakharova said Germany is exerting improper “pressure and harassment” on Russian journalists and their families. She had previously talked about being revoked and restricting journalists’ freedom of movement.

Russia continues to recognize Western correspondents, although Moscow subsequently fought a full-scale war through a new censorship law after launching a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022 and passed the 2023 arrest of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich for alleged surveillance charges. Gershkovich, who denied the allegation, was imprisoned last year.

(Reported by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Andrew Osborn by Gleb Stolyarov and Mark Trevelyaneding)