The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia refused to extend the visa of journalist Eva Hartog

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia for the first time in ten years refused to extend the visa of the journalist from the Netherlands Eva Hartog and gave her six days to leave the country. Hartog told about this in the material for the Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer .

The decision was made by “competent authorities” – that is what security services in Russia are often called, the journalist writes. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide her with any other information.

Hartog also said that a few days before the visa was refused, she attended the court in the “extremist” case against the politician Alexei Navalny. Before that, the journalist also came to meetings on other political matters and spoke in support of her colleague, The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Hershkovich, who was arrested in Russia on charges of espionage.

35-year-old Eva Hartog, like Hershkovich, has Russian roots. She moved to Moscow in 2013. At first, she worked as a web editor at the Moscow Times, and then took the position of editor-in-chief. Since 2019, she has been writing for De Groene Amsterdammer magazine, and recently she was also a correspondent for Politico Europe in Russia.

The editors of Politico Europe stated that they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it will not affect the publication’s commitment to impartially cover events in the country and the actions of the Russian authorities.

After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, foreign journalists working in Russia were obliged to re-submit visa and media accreditation applications every three months, instead of once an hour until February 24, 2022.