27/6/2025–|Last update: 23:46 (Mecca time)
On Friday, Russia summoned its German ambassador in protest against “pressure” exerted by Berlin against Russian journalists, which was rejected by Germany, stressing that the accusation “is unfounded.”
The dispute began after Sergey Fuktistoffa was accused of the most prominent Russian media official in Berlin, German police of confiscating the passports of his family members, which necessitated Russia’s warning of a retaliatory response.
A source in the German Foreign Ministry stated that German Ambassador Alexander Graf Lamsdorf refused at the meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry accusations, describing them as “baseless allegations.”
The source said that Germany applies the rule of law and freedom of the press, unlike the “harsh Russian repression” against journalists, as he put it.
“No Russian speaks”
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lamsshorf suddenly left the building after 10 minutes in search of a translator.
“It turns out that the German ambassador is not speaking Russian,” said a publication of Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the Telegram platform.
The ambassador, who returned to the building to complete the meeting, did not sign any comment on the accusations leveled against him about the Russian language.
After the meeting, Lamsshorf stated that they had a “very long and interesting conversation”, noting that the talks will continue.
Moscow had informed Berlin a “strong protest” against the background of the pressures on the Russian media in Germany, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement after the meeting, noting that retaliatory measures will be taken.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin have deteriorated since the beginning of the Russian war in February 2022.
Germany is one of the biggest military and financial supporters of Kyiv.
Earlier this month, the head of the Russian official media office in Berlin Sergey Fuktistov said that the police came to his family apartment and confiscated the passports of its members.
He added that the police intervened to prevent his family members from hiding from view, after orders were issued to leave the country, according to the Russian news agency “Raya”.
Moscow accuses Western countries of imposing restrictions on the Russian media abroad and offending its journalists.
And in the year 2022 banned European Union Russia Today channel, accused the Kremlin by using it to spread “misinformation” in connection with the war in Ukraine.
I banned Russia Dozens of Western media, prevented journalists from entering the country, and imposed restrictions on the conflict reports.