Rossiya Segodnya has British bank account closed

British bank Barclay’s has closed the account of Russia’s news agency, Rossiya Segodnya.

The account has been closed due to financial sanctions imposed by the British Treasury, which has added the Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselyov to a list of people facing sanctions. A spokesperson for Barclay’s stated that the bank would soon be sending official notification of the account closure, but declined to comment on the reasons for closing the account.

Mr Kiselyov has condemned the decision of the British authorities.

“To close the accounts of a leading information agency is censorship, a direct interference with the work of journalists. What kind of freedom of the press and democracy in the United Kingdom can we talk about, if the country does not allow one of the world’s major news agencies to work?” said Mr Kiselyov.

Rossiya Segodnya has already had accounts frozen in France and Belgium. In mid-June, the authorities of these countries seized Russian assets in connection with Moscow’s failure to abide by the decision of the arbitration court in The Hague, which had earlier obliged Russia to pay the ex-shareholders of former oil firm Yukos around $50 billion. Institutions affected by the asset seizures included the Russia Today news channel and TASS news agency.