Britain says a ban on Russia's RT could lead to retaliation against BBC
A ban in Britain on the Russian news channel RT could lead to a reciprocal ban by Moscow against the BBC and others, Britain's foreign minister Liz Truss said on Monday.
Britain accused RT of being a tool of a Kremlin disinformation campaign last week and asked the UK media regulator to take action if needed after Russia recognised two rebel regions of eastern Ukraine.
Russian officials say RT is a way for Moscow to compete with the dominance of global media companies based in the United States and Britain that Moscow says offer a partial view of the world.
"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," Truss told parliament.
"And what we want is we want the Russian population to hear the truth about what (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is doing."
Russian officials say RT is a way for Moscow to compete with the dominance of global media companies based in the United States and Britain that Moscow says offer a partial view of the world.
"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," Truss told parliament.
"And what we want is we want the Russian population to hear the truth about what (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is doing."
