Russian authorities give in: Football expert Robert Kempe also accredited for St. Petersburg

After a "background screening", Russian authorities initially rejected the accreditation of ARD journalist Robert Kempe for the European Championship venues in St. Petersburg. Now the UEFA expert has received full accreditation for the tournament that started on Friday. Kempe had critically examined the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the work of the International Olympic Committee in documentaries. At the end of May he dealt with the Russian state company Gazprom and its connections in European football in a film for the ARD “Sportschau” and in the podcast “Sport inside”. Gazprom is the largest shareholder in the Zenit St. Petersburg football club and one of the sponsors of this year's EURO 2020. Robert Kempe has been working for WDR and ARD for ten years.

WDR editor-in-chief Ellen Ehni commented on the relenting of the Russian authorities: “This example shows how important it is to create publicity. As the media, we must be vigilant and expressly point out if our journalists cannot report freely. ”She had previously described the rejection as“ a restriction of the freedom of the press which is not acceptable to us ”.

Robert Kempe had his accreditation for EURO 2020 initially confirmed by the European Football Union (UEFA) at the beginning of May. At the end of the month, however, he was informed in writing that the local authorities in one country had rejected his accreditation after a “background screening”. When asked, UEFA informed ARD that the authorities involved were Russian. The Russian city of St. Petersburg is one of eleven venues for the pan-European football championship. Accreditation for the European Football Championship also enables a simplified visa procedure.

Three years ago, the ARD doping expert Hajo Seppelt was refused a visa to travel to Russia for the soccer World Cup. At that time, too, the decision was reversed by Russia - under international pressure. After massive warnings from German security authorities, Seppelt canceled the trip. Seppelt had contributed significantly to the clarification of the systematic sports fraud in Russia and was therefore hostile in the host country.