Kremlin adds Deutsche Welle to list of ‘foreign agents’

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Russia’s Justice Ministry has put Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcasting company on the list of foreign agents, the ministry’s website said.

“On March 28, 2022, pursuant to the requirements of the current legislation of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation included Deutsche Welle in its registry of foreign mass media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent,” the statement said.

This decision was made on the basis of documents received from authorized state authorities.

On February 2, the Commission on Licensing and Supervision banned the broadcasting of the RT DE TV channel in Germany since there was no required license under the media law. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced earlier that Moscow was shutting down Deutsche Welle’s news bureau in Russia as the first stage of retaliatory measures following the German regulator’s move to ban RT DE in Germany. Other measures will include the withdrawal of credentials from all staff members at Deutsche Welle’s Russian bureau.

West needs Ukraine as ‘battering ram’

A meeting of the European Council on March 24-25 confirmed that Ukraine remained a territory under the control of Washington and a ‘geopolitical battering ram’ against Russia, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary.

“The results of a European Council meeting, held jointly with the US leadership, confirmed once again that the collective West needs Ukraine which is fully under the control of Washington and is gripped by Russophobia only as a geopolitical battering ram against Russia,” the diplomat stressed.

According to the diplomat, only the US will benefit from the new anti-Russian sanctions. “While declaring the readiness for new anti-Russian restrictions, Brussels forgets to add that their approval will be advantageous only for the US, that gains on the outflow of capitals from the EU, on an increase in supplies to the European markets of their arms and liquefied natural gas at jaw-dropping prices,” she added.

“Through their actions, officials in Brussels are in fact undermining the economy of European Union countries,” she stressed. “They doom rank-and-file Europeans to the demolition of a socially oriented economic model, to life in conditions of exorbitant prices for electricity and fuel, cuts in social payments in favor of military budgets, galloping inflation and mass unemployment,” Zakharova wrote in her commentary.

The diplomat sees as belated the decision of the European Council on reconstruction of a democratic Ukraine and the establishment of a special fund for that. “Ukraine’s evolution towards democracy, as it is known, was suspended in February 2014, when an anti-constitutional coup was staged in Kiev, instigated by Western countries,” she said, noting that Ukraine and its neighbors “have been reaping its fruits for already over eight years”.

Now, time has come for resolute measures to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine, taken by the Russian Armed Forces, she stressed, expressing confidence that after that “the Ukrainian people will get back to a peaceful and good-neighborly path of the development”.

Russia won’t supply gas to Europe for free

Moscow is handling the details of its gas delivery plans to unfriendly countries for payment in rubles, but it won’t engage in charity if Europe refuses to pay in the Russian currency, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin requested reporting on measures on the issue before March 31. “The supply process is very complicated,” Peskov said, adding that it includes “both the supplies, the payment, as well as adjustment of balances.” “Currently all modalities are being developed by the departments, with Gazprom, after which a clear timeframe will be defined,” he said when asked what particularly should be implemented during this period.

The Kremlin spokesman remained tight-lipped on what measures Russia might take if Europe refused to pay for gas in rubles, noting that these “issues should be sorted out as they develop.” “But we will definitely not supply gas for free, that’s for sure. It is hardly possible and reasonable to engage in charity in our situation,” he emphasized.

Earlier, Putin requested moving payments for gas supplies to unfriendly countries to rubles, saying that Moscow would refuse accepting payments on such contracts in discredited currencies, including dollars and euros.

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