FRANKFURT, (Reuters) –Berlin’s criminal investigators as well as prosecutors examined Saturday a device that was found in a building housing Russian journalists from the Steglitz area. The devices were destroyed by Berlin authorities.

In response to an early morning inquiry, a Berlin police spokesperson stated that the device had been found and that investigators are investigating its potential danger.

The police issued a joint statement with the prosecutor of the city in the afternoon stating that the motive for placing the device is now under investigation by Berlin’s department of security and Berlin’s criminal police.

According to the report, the building is located in Berlin’s Lepsius district.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin stated that a glass bottle was thrown through the window of an apartment block’s windows on Friday night. It also claimed that an improvised explosive bomb was found during the search. German authorities had deactivated it.

Russian state-owned RIA news agency claimed that it has journalists who live in the block.

Russia’s foreign minister demanded that Germany, NATO and the European Union take action to safeguard Russian journalists abroad.

It stated that it saw this as an outcome of harassment by Russia media workers and the West. The politicized decision to remove Russian media from European Union airwaves was precursor to physical intimidation that culminated in their extermination.

On Friday night, RIA broadcast video footage showing a blocked street and a man wearing a protective suit. The agency claimed that the person was part of the team working to remove the bomb.

After being accused by Western governments of spreading propagandism in connection to Russia’s invasion Ukraine, a number of Russian radio broadcasters have been expelled from the West.

Russia refers to its actions against Ukraine as “special operation”, a move that was undertaken in order to arm the country and prevent it being overthrown by fascists. Both the West and Ukraine claim that the claims of fascists are unfounded and that war was an unprovoked aggression.

The European Union bans state-controlled Russian outlets RT, Sputnik and other media on March 2nd.

Josep Borrell, EU’s chief of foreign policy, stated that “systematic information manipulation by the Kremlin and disinformation are applied as an operational instrument in its assault upon Ukraine.”