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Swiss public broadcaster no longer has staff in Moscow

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SRF studios in Zurich. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

Following the introduction of strict new information laws in Russia, the Swiss public broadcaster no longer has journalists reporting directly from Moscow.

“Due to the restrictive conditions for correspondents and the threatening consequences for them, SRF currently no longer has staff members on site in Russia,” the German-language broadcaster said on Saturday. It told the Keystone-SDA news agency that it would be regularly re-assessing the situation.

SRF television and radio is part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), also the parent company of SWI swissinfo.ch.

RSI, the Italian-language public broadcaster, said its external correspondent in Russia had also left the country. French-language division RTS did not have any presence in Moscow and is unaffected.

On Friday evening the Russian Parliament voted a series of new laws according to which the publication of intentionally “fake” news about the Russian military can be penalised by up to 15 years in prison.

It is also now a criminal offence to publicly disparage the Russian army. The rules apply not just to Russian journalists and broadcasters but to foreign outlets too. Facebook and several other websites have been blocked in Russia.

The BBC, CNN, German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, and various other public and private international media outlets have also suspended their reporting from Russia in the past days.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR