The UK bank accounts of Russian TV broadcaster Russia Today have been frozen, its editor-in-chief has said, in a move that the UK government appears to have been aware of.
In a tweet in Russian Margarita Simonyan said that "all the accounts" had been frozen in the UK. She said the decision was final, adding sarcastically: "Long live freedom of speech!"
Нам закрыли счета в Британии. Все счета. 'Решение пересмотру не подлежит'. Да здравствует свобода слова!
— Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 17, 2016
The National Westminster Bank has informed RT UK that it will no longer have the broadcaster among its clients. The bank provided no explanation for the decision.
"We have recently undertaken a review of your banking arrangements with us and reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities," NatWest said in a letter to RT’s London office.
The bank said that the entire Royal Bank of Scotland Group, of which NatWest is part, would refuse to service RT.
The letter said the decision was final and that it is "not prepared to enter into any discussion in relation to it."
She also added "We have no idea why it happened, because neither yesterday nor the day before yesterday, nor a month ago, nothing special happened to us, nobody threatened us in any way. Hypothetically, this may have something to do with new British and American sanctions against Russia, which may be announced soon. It may not. Our legal department is dealing with the issue now," Margarita Simonyan told RBK business news website.
Commenting on the development, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said it indicated that "Britain on its way out of the EU abandoned all its commitments to protect the freedom of speech."
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