Last Dutch journalist banned from working in Russia; Great loss, NVJ says

Russia has revoked the press accreditation of NOS correspondent Geert Groot Koerkamp, the broadcaster announced. The Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) spoke of a great loss. “Groot Koerkamp was the last journalist to report independently from Russia. Now we hear only propaganda from Russia,” NVJ secretary Thomas Bruning told ANP

Groot Koerkamp was banned from working in the country earlier this week, though he can continue living there. He also worked for the Volkskrant and the Flemish broadcaster VRT from Moscow.

A spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they revoked the Dutch journalist’s accreditation in response to the Netherlands expelling a correspondent for the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Bruning told ANP that he was lodging a protest along with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he does not expect the situation to change.

The public is the biggest loser in this situation, Bruning said. “Especially in a country at war, it is important to be able to report from both sides. That was already difficult, but has now become definitively impossible.”