Russian state-owned broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today, will no longer be available on Sky, UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said.
She wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening: “Shortly, the French satellite which broadcasts Russia Today (RT) in both the EU and UK will be switched off. This means RT will no longer be available via Sky.
“Putin’s polluting propaganda machine will now have severely restricted access into British homes via our TV screens.”
Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine last week, there have been calls for the Russian propaganda outlet to be banned in the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, labelled it Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “personal propaganda tool” which spreads “lies and disinformation.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also criticised RT for “peddling” material that is “doing a lot of damage to the truth” and called for Britain’s broadcaster watchdog Ofcom to look at if it is “infringing the rules of this country.”
Last week, Nadine Dorries asked Ofcom to review the operation of RT, which she said was “demonstrably part of Russia’s global disinformation campaign.”
In response, Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told Dorries the regulator had “already stepped up our oversight of coverage of these events by broadcasters in the UK.”
She said while broadcasters can cover issues from a “particular perspective” as long as balance is achieved, “it would not be acceptable for any of our licensees to broadcast one-sided propaganda.”
On Monday evening, Ofcom announced it had opened 15 new investigations into the “due impartiality” of news programmes on RT.
But Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warned that banning RT could lead to the BBC being banned in Russia.
Asked on Monday if the UK would follow the EU’s footsteps and ban Russian propaganda outlets, Truss told the House of Commons: “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.
“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, and that is something the Culture Secretary is looking at.”
