MOSCOW: Moscow summoned German ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on Friday to protest Berlin’s “persecution” of Russian journalists, Russian state media reported.
The row began after Russia’s top media official in Berlin accused German police of confiscating his family’s passports, prompting Moscow to warn of retaliation.
“The German ambassador was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry today,” the ministry said, according to the state RIA news agency.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin have broken down since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Germany has been one of Kyiv’s biggest supporters, supplying it with military and financial aid.
Earlier in June, the head of Russia’s state media company in Berlin, Sergei Feoktistov, said police had come to his family’s apartment and confiscated their passports.
He said police took the measure to prevent the family from going into hiding, after Feoktistov was ordered to leave the country, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman warned last week that Moscow was preparing countermeasures and urged German correspondents in Moscow to “get ready.”
Russia has repeatedly accused Western countries of mistreating its journalists and imposing restrictions on its media abroad.
The European Union banned Moscow’s flagship news channel Russia Today in 2022, accusing the Kremlin of using it to spread “disinformation” about its military campaign in Ukraine.
Russia has itself blocked access to dozens of Western media outlets and imposes reporting restrictions on the conflict.
It has barred several Western journalists from entering the country.
Moscow summons German envoy over ‘persecution’ of Russian media
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Moscow summons German envoy over ‘persecution’ of Russian media
- Relations between Moscow and Berlin have broken down since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022
- Russia has repeatedly accused Western countries of mistreating its journalists and imposing restrictions on its media abroad
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
