Russian state news network Channel One says German authorities shutting down its Berlin bureau, a claim Germany denies

Update: German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit denied Channel One’s claim that the German authorities were shutting the network down and said the correspondents had been ordered to leave due to a residency law issue. “Russian journalists can report freely and unhindered in Germany,” he said.

The German authorities are closing the German bureau of the Russian state-run TV station Channel One, the network said on Wednesday. Correspondents Ivan Blagoy and Dmitry Volkov are reportedly required to leave the country by mid-December.

The network was informed of the decision on Tuesday, according to Blagov. "The 10 pages of text justifying the closure are filled with references to EU sanction documents. The German lawyer who reviewed the papers at our request was exasperated — it doesn’t hold water. We haven't violated any German laws during our time here. We meet all the necessary criteria. Yet, we're being shown the door," the correspondent said.

He added that the decision followed closely on the heels of a Channel One report on the detention of German citizen Nikolai Gaiduk, whom Russian authorities have charged with involvement in a sabotage attack on a gas pipeline in Kaliningrad. Blagoy claims the Channel One crew traveled to Hamburg, where Gaiduk had lived, and filmed "the street where his meetings with a Ukrainian intelligence officer took place."

On its website, Channel One quoted a statement from the German authorities saying the network "continues to influence the Russian-speaking population of Germany through propaganda and disinformation."