RT licence to broadcast in UK revoked by Ofcom with immediate effect

The watchdog said it did not consider the Russian state-backed channel “fit and proper to hold a UK licence and cannot be satisfied that it can be a responsible broadcaster”.

The decision comes amid 29 ongoing investigations by Ofcom into the due impartiality of RT’s news and current affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ofcom said: "We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern – especially given RT’s compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches."

READ MORE: Alex Salmond suspends his show on RT following invasion of Ukraine

The watchdog said it had made the decision "on the basis that we do not consider RT’s licensee, ANO TV Novosti, fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence".

It added that a separate investigation into ANO TV Novosti had been launched.

Ofcom said its probe into RT had considered its relationship with the Russian state, and recognised it as a source of its funding. It also considered new Russian laws which Ofcom said prevent "any independent journalism that departs from the Russian state’s own news narrative".

Journalists in Russia have been told to only report news from official government sources, and Latvian-based Russian news website Meduza reported that the words "attack", "invasion", and "war" had been blacklisted.

Ofcom said: "We consider that given these constraints it appears impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules of our Broadcasting Code in the circumstances."

"We recognise that RT is currently off air in the UK, as a result of sanctions imposed by the EU since the invasion of Ukraine commenced," it added.

Melanie Dawes, Ofcom's chief executive, said: "Freedom of expression is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high.

"Following an independent regulatory process, we have today found that RT is not fit and proper to hold a licence in the UK. As a result we have revoked RT’s UK broadcasting licence."

RT deputy editor-in-chief Anna Belkina claimed Ofcom's decision had "shown the UK public, and the regulatory community internationally, that despite a well-constructed facade of independence, it is nothing more than a tool of government, bending to its media-suppressing will".

Belkina further claimed Ofcom had ignored "RT's completely clean record of four consecutive years", saying the channel was "completely unassociated" with the "situation" in Ukraine.

The news comes after Tory Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries (above) called for RT to “never again” be able to broadcast “poisonous propaganda” into British homes.

She added: “It is my absolute position that we will not stop until we have persuaded every organisation, based in the UK or not, that it is the wrong thing to do to stream Russian propaganda into British homes.”

Lucy Powell, Labour's shadow culture secretary said it was "about time" for Ofcom's move.

The news comes after former first minister Alex Salmond confirmed he had broadcast on the Russian channel for the final time following the Putin regime's invasion of Ukraine.

Commenting on Ofcom's decision, Salmond said: "I took the decision to suspend [The Alex Salmond Show] on the day of the invasion. Since the decision was based on the illegal invasion and final, today’s Ofcom ruling has no impact upon it.

"The show was only contracted for broadcast on RT and this always had a separate online platform with no RT branding.

"What the future holds for the show is exactly that - for the future."