Foreign media broadcasting to Russian audiences will henceforth be forced to make serious adjustments to their activities. Since the 90s of the last century, the journalists of Radio Liberty *, Voices of America **, Deutsche Welle, and the BBC are accustomed to feeling like not just people who are fulfilling their professional duties, but also ambassadors of kindness, whose calling is to admonish dark, ignorant Russian audience. In the West, this is simply referred to as a conflict of interest. A journalist has no right to fulfill a political mission; he must be objective and aloof, regardless of personal political preferences.

But in Russia this rule did not seem to apply, despite the fact that there are corresponding legal norms. Correspondents of the Western media did not consider it necessary to hide their sympathies for the liberal public, which criticized the current government. Representatives of the opposition have always had a predominant position on all Western media platforms, and protests were considered priority events. Summer opposition rallies in the center of Moscow, which took place without coordination with the authorities, were invariably included in the top news releases.

The head of the Duma commission to investigate the interference of foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia Vasily Piskaryov at the end of September, following the results of the proceedings, indicated a gross violation by the Deutsche Welle campaign of a number of Russian laws: “On meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets ”,“ On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection ”, as well as the Law“ On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation ”, which expressly prohibits rovodit campaigning and distribute any campaign materials to foreign entities.

The Twitter account of the publication quoted a call to go to an unauthorized rally distributed by the protesters.

The commission, after conducting a linguistic examination, came to the conclusion that this was direct agitation addressed to Russian citizens. In addition, the publication found signs of justification for extremism.

The directors of the Deutsche Welle, Peter Limburg, were called to a meeting in order to answer a number of questions that arose in connection with this unpleasant situation. Vasily Piskaryov said that we are talking about the prospect of withdrawing accreditation.

The leadership of the state television and radio company of Germany reacted immediately, rejecting all the charges against it. Moreover, this was done far from in the most correct form. Peter Limburg called what was happening in the State Duma a “commotion”:

“We are always ready for discussion and invited Mr. Piskaryov, but nevertheless it is necessary to agree on the framework conditions for dialogue. This “demand to appear” agenda is definitely not the right way to exchange views. The threat of denial of accreditation shows the nature of this invitation. We are an independent public media company and will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed. In addition, we have always made it clear that we have not interfered in the internal affairs of Russia and will not do so in the future. We also did not call for a demonstration in a tweet, but merely quoted its participants. It is so obvious that we cannot understand what caused the commotion. The accusation that we violated Russian laws is absolutely absurd. ”

And on the eve, the director of the Deutsche Welle nevertheless safely repented of his deed. Well, not really repentance. Apparently, this will be quite enough for the German campaign to continue to operate unhindered in Russia. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already opposed the denial of the "German Wave" accreditation.

But Western journalists will now have to restrain themselves in displaying limitless sympathies for the Protestants and critics of the Russian government, which, in general, is absolutely consistent with the norms of professional behavior. It’s even clear which media are next in line. State Duma deputy, member of the international affairs committee Elena Panina commented on this: “A good precedent. Now it's the turn of Radio Liberty and the BBC. ”

* Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe - mass media recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.

** "Voice of America" ​​- the media recognized by a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.


The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.