Germany blocks German-language Russian channel

The German broadcasting regulator says it has banned the transmission of the German-language channel of Russian state broadcaster RT, amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West.

The transmission of the channel “RT DE” was “prohibited because it does not have the necessary broadcasting license,” the regulator’s authorization and oversight commission says.

“This is complete nonsense,” RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan says on Twitter, adding that the channel “will not stop broadcasting.”

RT DE was blocked from Europe’s satellite network on December 22 at the request of German authorities, less than a week after going on air, but was still available over the internet and via a mobile app.

In its response to the suspension, RT DE says it is broadcast from Moscow and has a Serbian broadcasting license, which it says gives it the right to broadcast in Germany under European law.

“We cannot understand why a supposedly informed and independent regulator should act on what appears to be a purely political basis, based on a false version of reality that serves its own purpose,” it says.

But the German regulator says the channel is based in Berlin and does not have a “legitimate permit under European law.”