UK broadcasting regulator probes Russia's RT

UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom on Monday said it had opened 15 new investigations into the "due impartiality" of news programmes on the state-funded Russian broadcaster RT.

The body said it had seen "a significant increase in the number of programmes on the RT service that warrant investigation under our Broadcasting Code" after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes said the investigations, which relate to 15 editions of the hourly "News" programme broadcast between 0500 and 1900 GMT on February 27, will be concluded "as a matter of urgency".

"We expect full cooperation from RT," whose broadcasting licences in the UK are held by ANO TV Novosti, the organisation added.

The investigations come after Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries last week urged Ofcom to take "timely and transparent" action against RT, which she warned seeks to spread "harmful disinformation".

But that prompted Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to hit back, warning that if RT was sanctioned "retaliatory measures will not take long to come".

Deutsche Welle was forced to close its Moscow bureau at the start of this month as punishment for Germany's ban on RT's German service.

Zakharova also indicated the UK could incur tit-for-tat measures, pointing to the expulsion last August of a BBC correspondent in Moscow.

She said at the time it was related to a Russian journalist having to leave the UK for visa reasons, dismissing claims of a crackdown on press freedoms.

In 2019, Ofcom fined RT £200,000 for "serious" bias in its coverage of the 2018 nerve agent poisoning in the English city of Salisbury and the Syria conflict.

In response, its Russian counterpart opened a probe into the BBC for its reporting of the unrest in Syria.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Monday said the UK had to tread carefully with RT, as any ban, as has happened in the EU and elsewhere, could hit broadcasters such as the BBC.

"We are looking at what can be done on RT but the reality is that if we ban RT in the United Kingdom, that is likely to lead to channels like the BBC being banned in Russia," she told parliament.

"What we want is the Russian population to hear the truth about what Vladimir Putin is doing, so there's a very careful judgment to be made."