Berlin, Moscow squabble over press freedom as envoy meet goes awry

The Russian Foreign Ministry held a two-hour talk with the German ambassador on Friday over a dispute about the treatment of Russian state media correspondents that was marred by initial confusion.

Meanwhile Berlin rejected claims that Russian journalists are treated unfairly in Germany.

Russia summoned German Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff for a discussion after Berlin authorities failed to renew the permit of a media employee, though the meeting lasted longer than expected due to the initial absence of an interpreter.

Later, Lambsdorff said as he left the building that there had been a long and interesting talk in which the preconditions for the work of correspondents were discussed, according to Russian media reports.

He said that the dialogue would continue, but did not provide any details.

Afterwards, the German Foreign Office rejected Russia’s accusations regarding the treatment of Russian state media correspondents by German authorities.

“In contrast to the increasingly harsh repression of journalists in Russia, the principles of the rule of law and freedom of the press apply in Germany,” the Foreign Office said.

The German ambassador had also emphasized this to the Russian Foreign Ministry in no uncertain terms, it said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had summoned Lambsdorff “to inform him of retaliatory measures in response to the persecution of Russian journalists,” a ministry spokesman told Russian state news agency TASS.

Russian media reported that the case concerned a journalist working for a Russian state media holding company whose visa was not extended by immigration authorities in Berlin.

The Berlin State Office for Immigration said in a statement that the man had been denied an extension of his expired residence permit. The passports of his wife and daughter were confiscated, a spokesman said in response to a query.

It emerged that the meeting with Lamsdorff had not gone as smoothly as expected due to the absence of an interpreter.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused German authorities of doing everything they can to ensure that Russian journalists leave the country.

At the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg last week, Zakharova threatened countermeasures against German journalists in Russia.

She said candidates would be selected from among German journalists in Moscow who would have to leave the country and the specific steps were to be conveyed to Lambsdorff.

But 10 minutes after he reached the Russian ministry, he left to look for an interpreter.

Zakharova scoffed that the ambassador apparently did not understand Russian.

Lambsdorff has been in Moscow since 2023 and speaks Russian, but not at a level sufficient to conduct diplomatic negotiations.

He had not forgotten to bring an interpreter but said he had been told the talks would be held in English.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry stuck to its version of events, saying Lambsdorff had been informed of Russia’s protest over the treatment of its own journalists.

“It was emphasised that such openly unfriendly actions by the German authorities would inevitably prompt a response from the Russian side,” the ministry said in a press release that left the potential expulsion of one or more German journalists up in the air.

In November, Russia expelled two employees of German public broadcaster ARD amid a similar dispute. At that time, the residency permits of two men working for Russian state television in Berlin were not renewed.