BBC ‘temporarily suspending’ work of all news in Russia | BBC

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The BBC has temporarily suspended the work of its news news in Russia after parliamentarians passed a new law cracking down on foreign media outlets.

Tim Davie, the corporation’s director-general, said the legislation “appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism” in Russia.

The new law, passed on Friday, makes intentionally spreading “fake” or “false” news about the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine a criminal offense. President Valdimir Putin approved the new law on Friday evening, according to the Tass state news agency.

It came after the Kremlin accused the BBC of playing a “determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security”.

Davie said: “This legislation appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism. It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development.

“Our BBC News service in Russian will continue to operate from outside Russia.

“The safety of our staff is paramount and we are not prepared to expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs. I’d like to pay tribute to all of them, for their bravery, determination and professionalism.

“We remain committed to making accurate, independent information available to audiences around the world, including the millions of Russians who use our news services. Our mission in Ukraine and around the world will continue to report on the invasion of Ukraine.”

Jonathan Munro, interim director of BBC News, tweeted: “We are not pulling out @BBCNews from Moscow … We cannot use their reporting for the time being but they remain valued members of our teams and we hope to get them back on our output as soon as possible.”

As well as making the publication of “fake news” punishable by up to 15 years in jail, the new law would also make it an offense to call for sanctions against Russia.

Russian officials have repeatedly said that false information has been spread by the US and its western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.

“This law will force punishment – ​​and very tough punishment – ​​on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces,” the chair of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said.

Putin insists that Russia’s “special military operation” is essential to ensure its security after the expansion of the Nato military alliance to Russia’s borders and US support for pro-western leaders in Kyiv.

Russian officials do not use the word “invasion” and say western media have failed to report on what they cast as the “genocide” of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.

The Russian authorities have also cut access to several foreign news organizations’ websites, including the BBC and Deutsche Welle, for spreading what they alleged was false information about its war in Ukraine.

“Access has been restricted to a host of information resources owned by foreigners,” the state communications watchdog, known as Roskomnadzor, said in a statement.

On Friday night the regulator said it had also blocked Facebook in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on its platform. Roskomnadzor said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020, with access restricted to state-backed channels like RT and the RIA news agency.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry, has previously accused the BBC of playing “a determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security”.

Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary, warned earlier this week that the BBC risked being banned in Russia if the Kremlin-backed RT news channel, previously known as Russia Today, was shut down in the UK.

Meanwhile, the owner of Facebook and Instagram said on Friday that it was blocking the Russian state-backed news services Russia Today and Sputnik in the UK. The announcement came before the Russian move to block Facebook. On Thursday the UK culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, published a letter urging TikTok, Twitter and Facebook’s parent, Meta, to block RT and Sputnik. Meta has already blocked the news organizations across the EU.

“Earlier this week, we announced that we’d be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU. Consistent with that action, and following a request from the UK government, we will also be restricting access to RT and Sputnik in the UK at this time,” said a Meta spokesperson.

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