Friday 13th August 2021
“Attack on Freedom of the Media”
BBC journalist has to leave Russia
The Kremlin broadcaster RT in London has had to pay a heavy fine for “one-sided” reporting. In response, Moscow is not issuing a visa to the British broadcaster BBC’s correspondent – the journalist has to leave the country by the end of the month.
The British broadcaster BBC has sharply condemned the expulsion of one of its correspondents from Russia. “Sarah Rainsford’s expulsion is a direct attack on media freedom,” said BBC Director General Tim Davie. Russian state television had previously reported that the journalist had until the end of August to leave the country. The expulsion is a response to British policy towards Moscow. Rainsford is “an extraordinary and fearless journalist,” said Davie. You have provided “independent and thoroughly researched reports on Russia and the former Soviet Union”.
The television broadcaster Rossiya 24 reported without a source that the British journalist’s visa would expire on August 31 and that it would not be extended by order of the authorities. “The expulsion represents a significant turning point,” commented a journalist for the news channel. The measure is in line with the pressure exerted on Russian media in Great Britain.
Response to punishment in London
In 2019, the British broadcaster Ofcom imposed a fine of 200,000 pounds (around 235,000 euros) on the Kremlin broadcaster RT for serious “one-sidedness” in the reporting of the poison attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018 in Salisbury, UK, and of the conflict in Syria. In return, the Russian Broadcasting Authority launched an investigation into BBC coverage of the Syria conflict.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Sakharova, only indirectly confirmed the state television report on the expulsion of the British journalist. “Representatives of the BBC recently went to the State Department, everything has been explained, so they can tell everything,” she said on the Telegram messenger service. “Don’t be shy,” she added to the BBC. In the past, Russia had in vain condemned “the humiliations” that London inflicted on Russian correspondents in Great Britain when issuing visas, the ministry spokeswoman said.
The Russian authorities publicly criticize Western reporting on Russia time and again and regularly condemn articles or reports as anti-Russian. However, expulsions of journalists are rare. This year, the authorities stepped up their crackdown on the media, non-governmental organizations and Russian political organizations on alleged hostility to the government and on allegations of being financed by or serving the interests of the West.
Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Russia have been extremely tense since 2006, when former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko died in exile in London from poisoning with highly radioactive polonium. London blames Moscow, which denies any responsibility.
London responded to the attempted assassination attempt on Skripal with the neurotoxin Novichok in Great Britain by expelling 23 Russian diplomats, and Moscow followed suit in the same way.
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