Russia Today bank accounts 'frozen in UK'

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: BBC

The UK has frozen all bank accounts owned by Russia's state-run broadcaster, Russia Today (RT), its editor-in-chief has claimed.

Margarita Simonyan tweeted: "They've closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. 'The decision is not subject to review.' Praise be to freedom of speech!"

RT has previously been sanctioned by Ofcom for biased reporting on the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37677020?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

[stonecutter357]

1. K&R!

[DetlefK]

2. Read the comment-section at your own peril:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/russia-today-bank-accounts-frozen-uk-rt-money-finances-freeze-state-media-putin-a7365406.html

Some_Brains? and so it begins!

Britz are American slaves

Why? and then,when we have an explanation...why?

DON'T PANIC!.......DON'T PANIC!

they hate this Christian................ he destroys their ISIS far too well.

Typical from people who go around pretending to be full of morals

is this a z ionist media thing ?

-------------

- anti-americanism? check
- the russian propaganda that Russia is the only true bastion of Christianity and virtue and that the US controls ISIS? check
- anti-semitism? check

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Seems UK Ministry of Truth (Ofcom) wants to censor RT. I think censorship like that is not good.

RT is not a high quality news source, but censorship like that is not the way to deal with it.

[msanthrope]

5. one government censoring the propaganda arm of another?

The UK government does not have to suffer the propaganda depredations of RT while its troops are in battle.

[MisterFred]

8. While its troops are in battle?

Why the hell should our civil liberties be discarded because of war? Aren't they supposed to be what we're fighting for!?!

[msanthrope]

10. I'm sorry....but how, precisely, are your civil liberties at play here?

Please explain your relationship to said actors.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Ditto

[MisterFred]

41. There is a cultural connection between Britain and the U.S.

If it's considered routine to censor any group the state finds itself at odds with in war over in Britain, it becomes a little more acceptable here too.

Not to mention your comment implies an attitude of "who the hell cares about them or their civil liberties, they're foreigners, they should expect we support a messed up government policy".

Well shit, I don't like it when civil liberties are curtailed in general - even outside of this country. Yes I realize that makes me dangerously LIBERAL, and that's a pretty dirty word here on DU. But I stand by it.

[msanthrope]

42. Really? Tell me what cultural connections Americans have with a Scottish bank?

Looking past RT hyperbole, a Scottish bank has refused to continue to do business with them, and they have until December to close their accounts.

Tell me, precisely, how that has anything to do with any civil liberty you claim to have.

[MisterFred]

46. I see...

You're going to go with the argument that there's NOT shared culture between Britain and the U.S.

I'm just going to find that amusing and take your user name at face value. I'm quite confident there's nothing I could post that you wouldn't disagree with.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. "In battle"? The UK is not at war against Russia. . . . nt

[msanthrope]

11. Perhaps you have forgotten Syria? The SAS are definitely there. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Read my post again. Yes, Both Russia & UK in Syria. No, Russia & UK not fighting against each other.

RT is Russian, not ISIS.

[LiberalLovinLug]

36. Troops are ALWAYS in battle. Its the New World Order

Haven't you heard of the unending War on Terror? Or do you have an end date you've heard about you'd like to share.

so by your definition, Brits should be fine with dropping all civil rights now and forever. And by extension so should Americans? Wow

[DetlefK]

6. Censorship? Try finding RT-articles about what the syrian military is doing in Syria.

[geek tragedy]

12. No, this is curtailing Russia's malignant interference in the

internal political affairs of European and North American democracies.

Get back to us when VOA broadcasts in Russia.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. The malignant interference is hacking DNC & spilling altered docs via WikiLeaks, not RT blather. nt

[geek tragedy]

19. two heads of the same beast

Russia's actions require severe reprisals, this is pretty low hanging fruit as far as that's concerned

When the US has done this to Latin American countries, they've responded by expelling USAID and USIA.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Censorship is almost always bad because someone else is always eager to censor YOUR speech. nt

[geek tragedy]

22. not censorship to refuse to allow a hostile foreign power to broadcast propaganda

Russia is a hostile state that is acting a lot like an enemy these days. No need to extend them the privilege of broadcast rights

Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose were not granted broadcast rights in the USA during WWII.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. At that time the US was fighting Germany and Japan. :eyes: . . . nt

[geek tragedy]

25. Russia is trying to hijack our election system

But, to put it a different way:

Did the USSR get their own television channels during the days of Brezhnev, Andropov etc?

States have every right to prevent other states from broadcasting propaganda within their borders.

Vladimir Putin has no free speech rights inside the US or UK.

[LovingA2andMI]

33. Free Speech Rights....

Are not guaranteed or a right for a foreign owned "news" service (Russia Today), in a foreign country (Britain) or for that instance, a foreign owned "news" service of Russia Today operating in the United States.

The U.S. have every right to stop propaganda from a foreign entity seeking to hijack our elections system and subvert the practice of a Free Democracy by having open Elections.

Also, defending Russia Today is likely not the best thing to do at this point - since the "news" service is an arm of Putin's Government.

[LanternWaste]

45. It would seem so... to biased thinking predicated on one dimension only.

It would seem so... to biased thinking predicated on one dimension only (among other demographics as well, one may presume)-- which is certainly not the way to deal with it either.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Meanwhile, besieged city assaulted & bombed...

... Coalition forces are backing local government and Kurdish military with air strikes in an attempt to take Mosul, the country's second largest city, back from IS rule.

Safe escape routes out of the city for civilians caught up in the bloody conflict "do not exist", Save the Children has warned...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/17/bloody-battle-to-retake-mosul-begins-as-iraqi-forces-move-to-wip2/

[DetlefK]

7. A safe escape-route for 1.5 million civilians?

Can you imagine evacuating NY or LA through a single road?

[Ghost Dog]

37. Similar applies to Aleppo. n/t

[Cayenne]

14. Brietbart and Infowars should be next

[geek tragedy]

20. those are domestic nutballers, not malignant foreign actors nt

[Jason1961]

26. Agreed

They're doing everything they can to bring our Country down. Why should they just be allowed to do that?

[Ford_Prefect]

15. RT but not Faux News?

[rpannier]

16. I'm going to withhold any judgment here

The story is early and there doesn't seem to be much other than what people from RT are saying

[Tempest]

24. Their accounts were NOT frozen

They received a letter from the bank that their accounts would be closed in December and they can still access their funds. The bank has every right to choose who they do business with.

They can open accounts in another bank if they choose to.

More propaganda from RT.

[Raster]

27. Thank you!

Quite a big difference from what RT is claiming... who would have thought, eh?

Maybe persons and business entities in the UK are finally waking up to the real threats Russia and it's agents pose to the stability of the UK.

[Duppers]

30. BBC misreporting in title.

BBC should retitle their article.

Thx.

[Cerridwen]

31. They did. It's not reflected in the OP.

They did. It's not reflected in the OP. It was updated 26 minutes ago (as of this post).

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37677020?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

RT: NatWest 'freezes Russian channel's UK bank accounts'

It said the entire Royal Bank of Scotland Group, of which NatWest is part, was refusing to service RT.

The broadcaster, previously known as Russia Today, says NatWest wrote to its London office saying: "We have recently undertaken a review of your banking arrangements with us and reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities."

The bank said its decision was final and it is "not prepared to enter into any discussion."

<snip to more at link with updated story>

[Duppers]

32. Thanks for the update. nt

[Tempest]

34. The original title was also correct

They placed quotation marks around the frozen part showing it was from RT.

[Cerridwen]

35. Yes it was. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

28. EVERY country should follow the UK's example. Time to shut Putin DOWN. eom

[Blue_Tires]

29. LOL

[dembotoz]

38. Bothers me. The press needs to be treated kindly

Does not matter if I agree or not

[Cerridwen]

39. Another update: RT: NatWest to close Russian channel's UK bank accounts

Same link as OP. Title and information updated again.

Some newish information:

<snip>

An MP from Russia's ruling party has said its parliament will demand an explanation from the UK.

RT says the entire Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, of which NatWest is part, is refusing to provide its services.

<snip>

RBS said in a statement: "These decisions are not taken lightly. We are reviewing the situation and are contacting the customer to discuss this further. The bank accounts remain open and are still operative."

The UK Treasury said it does not comment on individual cases, but added that no new sanctions or obligations relating to Russia had been imposed on British banks by the government since February 2015.

<snip to more at original link>

(note: bolding added)

[lark]

40. First shoe drop,

wonder what comes next?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

43. YAY!

[Eugene]

44. RT: NatWest denies shutting accounts of Russian TV channel

Source: BBC

RT: NatWest denies shutting accounts of Russian TV channel

18 October 2016 Europe

A British bank has denied reports it closed the UK accounts of RT, Russian state TV's international channel.

NatWest said a letter had been sent to one of RT's suppliers, not RT itself, and no accounts had been frozen.

The Russian embassy in London has objected to what it called an "openly political decision".

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

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

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

Late on Monday, NatWest appeared to backtrack on its decision, announcing that it was reviewing the situation.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37697474