Russian outrage as RBS pulls plug on state news outlet

NatWest, which is the sole banking facility for Russia Today TV Ltd, said a letter had been sent to it, not RT itself, and no accounts had been frozen.

NatWest referred to Russia Today TV Ltd as a “supplier” of RT as it provides all RT services in the UK.

On Tuesday RT published a letter on its website reportedly sent by NatWest and addressed to “Russia Today TV UK Ltd”.

The letter explains that Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) will no longer offer its services, and all banking services and accounts will be closed by 12 December.

The Russian embassy in London said the move to cut off services was the result of an “openly political decision”.

However, the UK Treasury said no new sanctions or obligations relating to Russia had been imposed on British banks since February 2015.

And Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokeswoman said the decision was taken by the bank “independently”.

She added: “It is a matter for the bank and it is for them to decide who they offer services to.”

The UK joined other EU states in imposing sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.

On Monday, RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan tweeted that “all” the channel’s accounts in Britain had been closed.

The TV station says the supplier is the local production company that, amongst other things, handles RT staff salaries.

NatWest’s move follows a similar one taken by Barclays bank in 2015 when it closed an account connected to another arm of Moscow’s state-funded news services.

In a statement, the Russian embassy said “unbearable conditions” were being created for Russian media, making their normal functioning impossible.

“Silencing these news outlets is a blow to the principles of freedom of expression, allegedly cherished in Britain,” it said.

RT has breached the UK’s broadcasting code at least 10 times over the past decade and has been put on notice by communications watchdog Ofcom, which warned that further impartiality breaches could result in a fine.

In one programme, RT accused the BBC of “staging” a chemical weapons attack for a news report on Syria.

NatWest has refused to comment other than to say it was reviewing the situation.