British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. – Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/dpa
Live | Crisis in Ukraine
MADRID, 23 (EUROPE PRESS)
The British Government has asked this Wednesday to the regulator of telecommunications in the country, better known as Ofcom, to review the status of the license of the Russian television network RT in the country.
The Prime Minister himself, Boris Johnson, has confirmed the Government’s request in this regard in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis and after the Labor leader, Keir Starmer, described the channel as a “propaganda tool of the Kremlin”.
“Let Ofcom decide which company has to veto,” said Johnson after announcing that the Minister for Culture and Media, Nadine Dorries, has already taken action on the matter.
“We live in a democracy and in a country that believes in freedom of expression. I think it is important that we can leave it in the hands of Ofcom instead of those of politicians so that it is the regulator that decides what media is prohibited” , said the British ‘premier’.
The Government accuses RT of being “part of Russia’s global disinformation campaign”, which in the current crisis is aimed directly at Ukraine and NATO, as the minister herself denounced in a letter sent to Ofcom.
“It is vitally important that the UK consider whether there is a need to limit Russia’s ability to spread its propaganda here at home,” the letter said. Ofcom, for its part, has said it is committed to examining the situation as “a priority”, according to information from the BBC.
For its part, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajarova, has indicated that Moscow will take action in this regard if London acts against the Russian media.
“If the UK carries out the threats against the Russian media, the response measures will not be long in coming,” he told reporters, according to information from the Sputik news agency.
In addition, he stressed that British journalists “can ask their German colleagues how this happens”, a clear allusion to the suspension of the Deutsche Welle chain in Russia in response to Berlin’s veto of the Russian chain in its territory.