The UK has sanctioned a number of media organisations and individuals, including the owner of RT, as it moves to tackle Russian propaganda, it was announced on Thursday.
The government said that the sanctions would ensure RT, which has already had its broadcasting licence revoked by regulator Ofcom, would “not be able to find its way back on UK televisions, and will prevent companies and individuals operating in the UK from doing business with Russian state propaganda vehicles RT and Sputnik”.
As well as TV-Novosti, which controls RT (formerly Russia Today), Rossiya Segodnya, which runs state-owned news agency Sputnik, has also been sanctioned.
Individuals who have been sanctioned include Russian news presenter Sergey Brilev; RT managing director Alexey Nikolov; Sputnik editor-in-chief Anton Anisimov; Aleksandr Zharov, the chief executive of Gazprom-Media and head of Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor; and a number of personnel connected to Russian think tank Strategic Culture Foundation.
Colonel-general Mikhail Mizintsev has also been sanctioned. Mizintsev is chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre, where all Russian military operations are planned and controlled.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “Putin’s war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. This latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin’s fake news and narratives.
“We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.”
The UK and its fellow Western allies have so far sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and businesses in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February.
