Status: 08/16/2021 4:24 p.m.
The Russian state broadcaster RT has been planning a television station for Germany for a long time. But the application for a license in Luxembourg failed, and everything else does not seem to go as planned.
About ten kilometers northeast of the Kremlin, in a mixture of residential and industrial area, next to a tea factory, is the headquarters of RT in an office building with a glass facade. According to its own description, it is one of the “most renowned media groups with a global focus”. In Germany RT wants to be “an alternative source of information beyond the mainstream”. Voices should have their say “that present an alternative, unconventional point of view”.
So far, RT has presented content in German on its own website, on YouTube and in other social media. In December, the German subsidiary RT DE Productions GmbH with business address in Berlin Adlershof wants to start a television channel “RT in German”.
Daily news programs, talk shows, business formats and entertainment are planned, among other things, said program director Alexander Korostelev at the beginning of this year. The content is to be produced at several locations. The program is to be broadcast via satellite from Moscow.
German-speaking TV station planned
However, RT DE requires a broadcast license for nationwide operation of a television station. The media authority Berlin-Brandenburg is responsible. Among other things, it has to check applicants for distance from the state, as stipulated in the German State Broadcasting Treaty. RT DE itself claims to be an “autonomous, non-profit organization” that is “publicly financed from the budget of the Russian Federation” – that is, by the Russian state.
In terms of content, RT follows a state line: It is not just about presenting the perspective of the Russian state abroad. Editor-in-chief Margarita Simonjan sees RT, until 2009 Russia Today, also in an “information war” – as she explained in an interview with the Russian newspaper “Kommersant” in 2012. A year later, she specified in another interview with the website lenta.ru: Just as the Russian Defense Ministry has weapons ready for war in times of peace, RT must be available as an information weapon for times of crisis.
In the corona pandemic, for example, RT DEU published reports that were obviously intended to unsettle the audience. In the 2019 report on the protection of the constitution, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution RT Deutsch and the Sputnik news agency ascribe particular importance to the goal of the Russian leadership to “influence political and public opinion in Germany in the interests of Russian politics”. The RT subsidiaries red-fish and “Ruptly” are seen as part of an associated complex network.
No success in Luxembourg
Probably with a view to these statements, RT DE did not submit an application to Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg after program director Korostelev and office manager Dinara Toktosunova announced the expansion of a television program “with the highest journalistic standards” as new managers in January 2021.
In June, however, an application for a broadcasting license from the organization “TV Novosti”, which is behind the RT brand, was received in Luxembourg. There is the headquarters of the company SES, which operates the Astra satellite system.
But the application was unsuccessful: “Luxembourg is not responsible for the television program ‘RT in Deutsch'”, announced the office of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel on Friday at the request of the newspaper “Luxemburg Times”.
Since the media service provider has a seat in the Federal Republic of Germany and a significant part of the staff entrusted with the provision of the audiovisual media service is based in Berlin, the TV program is subject to the jurisdiction of Germany, Bettels State Ministry explained the decision.
Luxembourg has contacted the German authorities to ensure that an EU directive on audiovisual media is correctly applied, the ministry said. According to a report in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, German and Luxembourg diplomats, the German commissioner for culture and media as well as representatives of the constitutional protection and the Luxembourg secret service SREL met at the end of May.
More than 200 vacancies
RT said on Sunday that it had taken note of the Luxembourg authorities’ decision. Lawyers are about to examine them. It is questionable how RT wants to advance its plans in Germany. In March a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry complained that the German Commerzbank wanted to close the accounts of RT DE Productions GmbH and “Ruptly” by May 31.
The spokesman for the Foreign Office, Christofer Burger made it clear that “the Federal Government has in no way worked towards Commerzbank in the sense of ending the business relationship”. The federal government also has no knowledge of other Russia Today business accounts. “In this respect, the threat of tough retaliation from the Russian side completely bypasses the matter.”
The recruiting of new employees for the planned TV station does not seem to want to make any headway either. More than 200 positions are regularly added, RT still writes on its own website. We are still looking for moderators, editors, correspondents and staff for technology and management. Several personnel service providers were hired. The platforms LinkedIn and Xing as well as various websites are also used for advertising. RT has not yet announced any prominent newcomers.