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Photo: Peter Kneffel / picture alliance / dpa
ARD and ZDF are suspending reporting from their Moscow studios for the time being.
They are reacting to a change in the law that the Russian parliament passed on Friday.
With this, the dissemination of alleged false information about the Russian armed forces can be punished with high fines and up to 15 years in prison.
The public broadcasters said in a coordinated statement on Saturday: “ARD and ZDF are examining the consequences of the law passed on Friday and are initially suspending reporting from their Moscow studios.
The two public broadcasters will continue to inform the audience comprehensively about what is happening in Russia and Ukraine from their other locations.«
It had previously become known that several international broadcasters and agencies were partially or completely stopping their work in the country.
"CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia while we continue to assess the situation and our next steps," a spokesman for the US broadcaster said.
The US news agency Bloomberg had previously announced that it would stop reporting on Russian territory.
The British BBC also initially stopped any form of reporting on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Reporters without borders shows understanding for the decision of ARD and ZDF
The announcement by ARD and ZDF is understood by Reporters Without Borders.
"Against the background of open censorship and the criminalization of independent reporting, our colleagues in Moscow have no other choice," said RSF Managing Director Christian Mihr.
»Vladimir Putin wants to ban all content that contradicts state propaganda.
The fact that he is now targeting the foreign media directly is a new quality, but was to be expected in view of the dramatic developments of the past few days.
We are particularly concerned about the situation of the local employees of ARD, ZDF and other international media.«
RSF assumes that more and more journalists from Russia will leave the country because they are threatened with draconian punishments because of their independent reporting.
“We are therefore appealing to the German federal government to make unbureaucratic admissions procedures possible for media workers fleeing Russia, just as they are already doing for Ukrainian journalists,” said Mihr.
On Friday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed several laws further restricting freedom of expression in Russia, which will further curtail independent media reporting.
Up to 15 years in prison are threatened for spreading alleged "false information" about the Russian armed forces.
There are also penalties for those who publicly "denigrate" the army.
The Russian parliament had previously approved a corresponding change in the law.
Since last week, media in Russia have been banned from using terms such as "attack", "invasion" and "declaration of war" in reporting on the war against Ukraine.
Moscow describes the war as a military “special operation”.
hey/dpa