RT's broadcast in the UK had already been halted in early March after delivery of the satellite service to all providers was halted following sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union.

"Ofcom today revoked RT's UK broadcasting license with immediate effect," said the regulator, which had opened 29 investigations into the channel for lack of impartiality. in its coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"RT is funded by the Russian state, which recently invaded a neighboring sovereign country," continued Ofcom, which also noted that "new legislation in Russia criminalizes any independent journalism that diverges from the discourse of the media of Russian state".

"Under these conditions, it appears impossible for RT to comply with the impartiality rules of our broadcasting code", concludes the regulator.

"Free speech is something we fight for tooth and nail in this country," Ofcom Director Melanie Dawes said in the statement.

"We have concluded that RT is no longer suitable or appropriate to receive a license in the UK".

RT's deputy editor, Anna Belkina, challenged the decision, saying that "despite a well-crafted facade of independence, (Ofcom) is nothing more than a tool of the government in his desire to suppress the media".

She denounced "purely political reasons directly linked to the situation in Ukraine", which deprive "the British of access to information".

The regulator's decision raises fears of a measure on the part of Moscow, which already blocked the site of the British audiovisual group BBC in Russia on Wednesday and promised other responses in what it describes as "information war".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced "anti-Russian madness" and "one more step in the line of gross restrictions on freedom of expression, in violation of all laws on the free work of the media, including including European laws".

In early March, RT was banned from broadcasting in the European Union, accused of being an instrument of "disinformation" by Moscow in its war, and registered as a "foreign agent" in the United States.

In 2019, the channel had already been pinned by Ofcom and sentenced to 200,000 pounds in fines (238,000 euros at the current rate) for its lack of "impartiality" in the treatment of the poisoning of a former double agent Russian in the United Kingdom and in that of the war in Syria.

Going live in 2005 as "Russia Today", RT has grown with broadcasters and websites in multiple languages, including English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.

© 2022 AFP