Moscow has launched an extraordinary threat to target Australian journalists based on its false belief the Australian Federal Police are investigating the Kremlin-backed news outfit Russia Today.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures whenever the rights of Russian journalists are being infringed upon” and threatened “tit-for-tat” measures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and with editor-in-chief of RT, Margarita Simonyan, in 2015. Credit:AP

She did not detail what kind of retaliation Moscow might undertake. But the threats appear to be based on an embarrassing misunderstanding by the Russian government and by Russia Today, better known as RT.

The AFP confirmed to Fairfax Media on Friday that it is not investigating RT, the news outlet that is widely regarded as a propaganda mouthpiece of President Vladimir Putin’s government.