Austria on Wednesday summoned Russia’s representative in the country to protest over what it called Moscow’s “unprecedented” withdrawal of media accreditation of an Austrian journalist.

ORF journalist Carola Schneider had her accreditation withdrawn on Wednesday and was asked to leave the country, the Austrian broadcaster said.

She is the second ORF journalist to lose her accreditation, leaving the public broadcaster without a journalist in Russia.

“The withdrawal of the accreditation of Carola Schneider, office manager and last ORF employee in Moscow, is unprecedented,” said a foreign ministry statement.

“We condemn this unjustified and unacceptable step. This represents another arbitrary, baseless attack on the free press in Russia,” it added.

The ORF called the decision “an arbitrary act against independent reporting”. Schneider started her stint in Moscow in 2011.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the move against Schneider was a “forced retaliatory measure in connection with the continuing discrimination against representatives of Russian media in Austria.”

The Vienna bureau head of Russian news agency TASS, Arina Davidyan, on Monday got “a notice of non-renewal of her residence permit in Austria and an order to leave the country within two weeks”, the ministry said. That followed the withdrawal of her accreditation in April “under a made-up pretext”.

Two TASS journalists lost their accreditation in April due to a “negative safety assessment,” according to Austrian authorities.

Many reporters have left Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and crackdown on independent reporting.

Domestic media that are critical of President Vladimir Putin’s rule or his invasion of Ukraine have been banned, harassed and outlawed.

Russia on Tuesday blocked access to dozens of European media outlets, including AFP websites, as well as ORF, in response to EU bans several Russian outlets broadcasting in Europe.

AFP