Russia Cites BBC ‘Violations’ as U.K. Probes Kremlin-Backed RT

(Bloomberg) -- Russia accused the BBC of unnamed “violations” in what appeared to be a tit-for-tat response to a threat by U.K. regulators to ban the Kremlin-funded channel RT for breaching impartiality rules.

The Russian communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said Thursday that after a more than monthlong investigation, it is still assessing the nature of the violations of the BBC’s legal compliance. It will announce its response later, according to the state-run TASS news service.

The U.K. media regulator, Ofcom, said last month that it was minded to impose a “statutory sanction” on RT after seven breaches of impartiality rules over a six-week period in spring 2018. The English-language channel came under fire in Britain after former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with nerve agent in the city of Salisbury in March, plunging relations between London and Moscow into a deep new crisis.

The BBC has said the broadcaster complies with all local legislation in Russia, as it does everywhere else in the world.

The Russian Foreign Ministry last month called the probe “long overdue” and repeated warnings of possible retaliatory measures in response to the U.K.’s “gross interference” in the activities of Russian media.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin

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