The Russian state-run Channel One television company in Germany said the government has ordered two of its journalists to leave the country, prompting Moscow to revoke the accreditations of two correspondents from German media group ARD.
The affected Channel One journalists, correspondent Ivan Blagoi and cameraman Dmitry Volkov, said they were informed that they must depart Germany by mid-December. The media outlet confirmed the expulsions on social media on November 27.
Blagoi said the decision was justified by the German authorities as being "in the interest of the security of the Federal Republic of Germany."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference on November 27 that Moscow had revoked the accreditations of two ARD correspondents, saying, "we have to take tit-for-tat measures." She gave no further details.
The expulsions mark the latest in a series of escalating tensions between Russia and Western countries over the role of Russian state media.
Since Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian broadcasters have faced bans, restrictions on access to social media platforms, and accusations of disseminating propaganda.
Channel One, a Russian-language broadcaster popular among older audiences in Russia and some other former Soviet republics, has come under scrutiny for its coverage.
SEE ALSO: Russia's RT Network Working Directly With Kremlin To Spread Disinformation, U.S. SaysARD is an association of German public broadcasters.
German authorities reportedly accused the outlet of spreading propaganda and disinformation among the Russian-speaking diaspora in Germany, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands. The accusations include claims the channel justifies the Russian invasion of Ukraine and portrays Ukraine's defenders as "Nazis."
The expulsions follows a report aired by Blagoi on November 24 regarding Nikolaj Gajduk, a German citizen detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in October.
The report alleged that Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, were involved in Gajduk's alleged actions ordered by Ukrainian special services.
The timing of the decision to expel the journalists, shortly after this broadcast, raises questions about the broader geopolitical dimensions of the incident.
Russia has consistently retaliated against measures targeting its state media. Following Germany's 2022 ban on RT, a Kremlin-backed broadcaster, Moscow shut down the Deutsche Welle bureau in Russia and revoked accreditations for German journalists.
Similar restrictions have been imposed on other foreign correspondents, reflecting a tit-for-tat approach.
The German government has not publicly detailed the reasons behind its decision, but the move underscores the increasing focus on disinformation as a national security threat. Channel One claimed its journalists had complied with German laws and accused the authorities of using vague accusations to stifle alternative narratives.
Germany has a large number of residents who have emigrated from the former Soviet Union, who are mostly ethnic Germans from Kazakhstan and Russia.