Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Maria ZakharovaMOSCOW, February 3 MFA Spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on the demand of the German Union of Journalists to the German government to protest the restrictive measures that Moscow imposed against Deutsche Welle. «This is very funny. Because the German Journalists' Union demanded the loudest restriction of the work of RT DE. The German government constantly emphasized that it had nothing to do with blocking RT DE , and publicly distanced itself from the situation in every possible way, nodding at the social and legal regulation of this sphere,» she wrote in the telegram channel.Germany commented on Russian measures against DW Earlier Thursday, it became known that the Russian authorities, in response to the cessation of broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel, were closing the Deutsche Welle bureau and canceling the accreditations of all its employees. At the same time, a high-ranking source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti that if Germany will change its position regarding RT DE, then Russia will respond positively. On February 1, the registration and supervision commission of the MABB regulator banned the channel from broadcasting on all platforms in Germany. They said that the media resource did not receive permission, as required by paragraph 52 of the state contract on the activities of media service providers. In addition to satellite broadcasting, the regulator demanded to stop distribution via the Internet, mobile applications or Smart TV. The German side believes that the TV channel cannot appeal to other permissions in force in the EU. The TV company will appeal this decision in court. Russia for responding to German measures against RT DERT launched a new round-the-clock news channel in German on 16 December. On the same day, it was blocked on YouTube, and then the European satellite operator Eutelsat excluded it from its grid. In August, Luxembourg refused to issue a broadcasting license to the TV channel, citing «information and analysis of the German authorities.» In September, YouTube removed two RT DE channels without the right restoration with the wording «for violations of the rules of the community.» At the same time, RT DE was in fourth place in terms of influence among the German-language media and bypassed, according to Tubular Labs, Deutsche Welle.
