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Russian state television said the move was a response to London’s refusal to renew or issue visas to Russian journalists in the UK.
According to national television reports, Russia has asked a BBC reporter working in Moscow to leave the country before the end of this month in retaliation for London’s discrimination against Russian reporters working in the UK.
On Thursday night, the Rossiya-24 TV channel stated that Sarah Rainsford, one of the two English-language reporters of the BBC in Moscow, would return home. It was called “a landmark deportation.”
Following the suppression of the domestic Russian-language media before parliamentary elections in September, the authorities determined that these media had the support of evil foreign interest groups that intended to incite unrest.
Rossiya-24 stated that the Russian authorities have decided not to extend Rainsford’s qualifications as a foreign correspondent in Moscow after the current visa expires at the end of this month.
The move is in response to London’s refusal to renew or issue visas for Russian journalists in the UK.
The channel cited the British treatment of the state-backed Russian broadcaster RT and the online national news media Sputnik, saying that neither of them could be recognized in the UK for reporting on international events.
The British government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Sarah Rainsford is going home. According to our experts, this reporter from the Moscow BBC bureau will not extend her visa because the UK has crossed all our red lines in the media sector,” Rossiya -24 said.
“Sarah Rainsford’s expulsion was our symmetrical reaction,” it said.
The BBC said it would not comment on the matter, but is expected to issue a statement later on Friday. Rainsford did not respond to a request for comment. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova (Maria Zakharova) said that BBC representatives have been in the ministry in recent days and explained everything to them in detail.
Zakharova said that Moscow has repeatedly warned London that it will respond to her alleged visa-related persecution of Russian journalists in the UK.
The British Embassy in Moscow declined to comment immediately.
Rainsford is part of a team that provides content about Russia and the former Soviet Union to the English-language media of the British public service broadcaster. The BBC also operates a large Russian service in Moscow.
Rainsford is a Russian speaker and an experienced BBC foreign correspondent. He has worked in Havana, Istanbul and Madrid. He is currently one of two BBC correspondents in Moscow.
Recently, she asked Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko at a press conference whether he was still legal given the violent suppression of dissidents in the former Soviet Republic, which caused a sensation.
She will be the first British journalist forced to leave Russia in ten years.
For some time, relations between Russia and Britain have been severely strained.The London government has repeatedly criticized the Kremlin for human rights violations, especially in Alexei Navalny, The imprisoned anti-corruption activist and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin.
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