EditRussia designates Deutsche Welle an “undesirable organisation”, escalating war on West
Legislation governing “undesirable organisations” provides for prison sentences of up to five years for funding their activities and up to six years for organising them
Russia has added Germany’s international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to its register of “undesirable organisations”, a move the media outlet and the German government have described as a further attempt by the Kremlin to silence independent reporting.
The decision, published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Justice on 16 December, means that any form of cooperation with DW is now subject to criminal prosecution under Russian law. Legislation governing “undesirable organisations” provides for prison sentences of up to five years for funding their activities and up to six years for organising them.
DW Director General Barbara Massing said the broadcaster would not be intimidated by the designation. In a video statement, she described the move as “another attempt to silence free media” and said it demonstrated “how little the Russian authorities respect freedom of speech and how much they fear independent information”.
“We will continue independent journalistic coverage of the aggressive war against Ukraine and other topics about which information is barely available in Russia, so that people can form their own opinions,” Massing said.
The Russian authorities justified the move by accusing DW of hostile activity. Vasily Piskarev, head of the Russian parliament’s commission for investigating foreign interference, said the broadcaster was “at the forefront of hostile anti-Russian propaganda”. According to him, the “undesirable” label means that all cooperation with DW will now be prosecuted.
While Moscow insists that such measures are necessary to protect its national security and constitutional order, European governments and media organisations see them as part of a broader effort to control information and suppress alternative narratives about the war in Ukraine.
The German government reacted strongly to the decision. Government spokesman Stefan Cornelius said the measures taken against DW showed that “the Russian leadership is afraid of independent information, especially about the war of aggression against Ukraine”.
The designation marks the latest step in a long-running campaign by Moscow against the German broadcaster. In March 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, DW was declared a “foreign agent” by the Russian Ministry of Justice. Under Russian law, this status is applied to individuals, media outlets and organisations that receive funding from abroad.
Even before being labelled a foreign agent, DW had been banned from broadcasting in Russia. Access to its programmes in all languages was blocked online within the country, and the broadcaster was forced to close its Moscow studio and relocate its team abroad.
Despite these restrictions, DW has continued to expand its Russian-language output. The broadcaster produces a Russian-language news programme as well as the satirical show “Zapovednik”, both of which are filmed in Riga, Latvia. According to the broadcaster, by 2025 DW’s Russian-language service was reaching around 10 million users per week.
Since March 2024, DW’s Russian-language programming has also been included in the “TV Freedom” package coordinated by Reporters Without Borders. The package brings together around 20 independent Russian-language television and radio outlets that broadcast via the Hot Bird satellite system.
At the same time, DW has increasingly relied on digital platforms and tools designed to bypass censorship, including VPN services, the Tor browser and its own mobile application. Massing noted that, “despite censorship and the blocking of our services by the Russian government, DW’s Russian-language service is reaching more people than ever before”.
DW currently produces content in 32 languages worldwide. According to the broadcaster, its programmes reach a weekly audience of around 337 million users globally.
The latest designation underscores how Russia has expanded the use of legal instruments to target foreign media organisations since the start of the war against Ukraine. The “undesirable organisations” law allows authorities to effectively criminalise journalistic work by making contact with or support for designated outlets a prosecutable offence.
For DW, the move further restricts its ability to operate inside Russia, but the broadcaster has made clear that it intends to continue reporting from outside the country. “This latest attempt to silence free media highlights the Russian regime’s blatant disregard for press freedom,” Massing said, adding that DW would continue to report independently on issues that remain largely inaccessible to Russian audiences.
Sources: EUalive’s partner Suspilne, Reuters, Deutsche Welle
Caption: Deutsche Welle headquarters in Bonn, Germany/Björn Kietzmann/DW
Updated: December 16, 2025 - 18:52
