Moscow shuts down German broadcaster’s Russian operations in retaliatory move

The logo of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is pictured in Berlin, Germany, January 30, 2020. Picture taken January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it was shutting down German broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s operations in Moscow and stripping its staff of their accreditation in a retaliatory move after Berlin banned Russian broadcaster RT DE.

Moscow said it would stop the German channel being broadcast in Russia and start proceedings that would see it declared a “foreign agent”, a designation that carries a negative Soviet-era connotation.

The Russian foreign ministry also said it would bar entry to Russia for German officials involved in the move to ban RT DE.

Germany’s foreign ministry said Moscow’s…