The move, reported by a state television channel, comes amid an escalating confrontation with the Western news media and a crackdown on domestic dissent.<\/b>
\nRussia is expelling a BBC correspondent based in Moscow, Russian state television reported, the first time in years that a high-profile Western journalist has been publicly forced out of the country as part of a political dispute. The BBC condemned the move to expel the reporter, Sarah Rainsford, while holding out hope that the decision could still be reversed. \u201cThe expulsion of Sarah Rainsford is a direct assault on media freedom which we condemn unreservedly,\u201d Tim Davie, the BBC director-general, said in a statement on Friday. \u201cWe urge the Russian authorities to reconsider their decision.\u201d A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that the British broadcasting giant had ignored \u201crepeated warnings\u201d that it could face consequences in retaliation for pressure on Russian journalists in Britain, but she did not confirm the expulsion. The tone of a state television report Thursday evening left little doubt, however, that Russia was escalating its confrontation with the Western news media. \u201cSarah Rainsford is going home,\u201d a reporter on the Rossiya-24 state-run news channel intoned. \u201cThis correspondent of the BBC Moscow bureau will not have her visa renewed, according to our experts, because Great Britain has crossed all red lines in media terms.\u201d Ms. Rainsford, a veteran correspondent first posted to Moscow in 2000, will be required to leave Russia by the end of the month, the report said. It described the move as \u201cour symmetric response\u201d to what it said was \u201cdiscrimination\u201d by Britain against Russian reporters for state-run outlets such as RT and Sputnik. \u201cLondon is not extending and not giving new visas to Russian journalists,\u201d the report said. \u201cRT and Sputnik are not being accredited to international events.\u201d A spokesman for Britain\u2019s Foreign Office urged Russia to \u201creconsider this retrograde step against an award-winning BBC journalist\u201d and rejected the claim that Russian journalists faced discrimination in the U.K. \u201cRussian journalists continue to work freely in the U.K., provided they act within the law and the regulatory framework,\u201d the spokesman said. An anonymous account on the social network Telegram, quoted by Russian state television, cited a \u201cdiplomatic source\u201d as saying that the expulsion was also precipitated by British sanctions against Russian individuals. Britain issued travel bans and asset freezes against more than a dozen Russians last April and December over corruption and human-rights violations. Russia\u2019s state media have long cast major Western news outlets as part of a Washington-led campaign to discredit and weaken the country. At the same time, Moscow-based journalists for major European and American newspapers and broadcasters accredited to work in Russia are generally able to operate freely. The expulsion of Ms. Rainford would be a signal that times are changing \u2014 as they did in China last year with the expulsion of American reporters. Independent news media outlets in Russia have already come under extraordinary pressure in recent months amid the Kremlin\u2019s intensified crackdown on dissent ahead of the nationwide parliamentary election next month. Several Russian news media outlets have been declared \u201cforeign agents,\u201d restricting their ability to function, while the prominent investigative outlet Proekt was banned last month as an \u201cundesirable organization.\u201d Maria V. Zakharova, the spokeswoman for Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry, said Friday that any retaliation against the BBC was in response to pressure on a Russian journalist in Britain who she did not name. \u201cThe Anglo-Saxon media group ignored repeated warnings from the Foreign Ministry that appropriate measures would be taken in response to London\u2019s visa games with a Russian correspondent in Britain,\u201d Ms. Zakharova said in a statement. \u201cBBC representatives who visited the Foreign Ministry in recent days were informed of everything in detail.\u201d In a news conference on Monday in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, Ms. Rainsford asked Mr. Lukashenko about the widespread reports of the abuse of detained protesters in Belarus last year. \u201cIt\u2019s fake, dear girl, it\u2019s fake,\u201d Mr. Lukashenko told her. But Ms. Rainsford\u2019s report showed footage of abuse and detainees\u2019 bruises, as well as a hidden memorial to a slain protester. \u201cMass protests reduced to hidden shrines,\u201d Ms. Rainsford said, signing off. \u201cBut a year on, the emotions, the anger have gone nowhere here.\u201d<\/p>\n