LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday it would kick out a Dutch journalist in response to what it called the expulsion of a correspondent of Russian state news agency RIA from the Netherlands.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had decided to revoke the Dutch journalist’s accreditation and residence permit. She did not name their media organisation.
The decision could be reviewed if the Dutch government created “appropriate conditions” for the Russian journalist to work, she said.
Only a small number of Western journalists remain in Russia following an exodus in 2022 when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and introduced censorship laws setting prison terms for spreading “false information” about the war.
Russia frequently complains about what it says is unfair treatment of its journalists in the West. It continues to accredit some journalists from what it considers “unfriendly” countries, and expulsions are relatively rare.
(Writing by Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Andrew Heavens)