More people are reconsidering their positions at RT as even those closest to the Kremlin have been left ‘in shock and disbelief’ at Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine
February 26, 2022 4:16 pm(Updated 6:14 pm)
Several Russia Today journalists in the UK have resigned from the broadcaster following Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the pretext that it had to be “de-Nazified”, i understands.
i has been told five employees based both in Moscow and at RT’s bureau in London have handed in their notice in the past few days, including broadcast journalists and news producers.
Shadia Edwards-Dashti, a TV correspondent, has also left the company after joining in 2015 as a broadcast journalist.
A source told i Ms Edwards-Dashti, a former Stop the War employee, was contacted to go live at 6am GMT on Thursday to cover news of the Russian invasion, but refused and quit with “immediate effect”, with several others following by midday.
Tweeting just a few hours after the first Russian missiles struck Ukraine, Ms Edwards-Dashti said: “I want to thank everyone at the channel for giving me the opportunity to broadcast globally on issues that I am passionate about. Best of luck to all my former colleagues,” she said.
According to the source, RT has now been left scrambling to find English-speaking correspondents to put on air.
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A separate source told i another two people decided to leave the channel following Mr Putin’s decision to launch a land, air and sea invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, which came after his recognition of two separatist areas in the eastern region of Donbass, the self-declared republics of Donestk and Luhansk.
They added that more people are re-considering their position at RT as there is “shock and disbelief” at Mr Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine even among those closest to the Kremlin.
i has contacted both Ms Edwards-Dashti and RT for comment.
Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond also announced he would suspend his Alex Salmond Talk Show on RT “until peace is re-established”, just as the UK accused the channel of being a tool of a Kremlin disinformation campaign.
Mr Salmond said in a statement to i he had interrupted his 200-episode talk show on RT “until further notice”.
The statement added: “As our hundreds of guests can testify, I should make it clear that not once in all of that time, has there been a single piece of editorial interference of any kind from RT. They have kept entirely to their commitments on this in line with the Ofcom code.”
Russian officials say RT is a way for Moscow to compete with the dominance of global media companies based in the United States and Britain that Moscow says offer a partial view of the world.
Critics say RT, which broadcasts news in English, Arabic, Spanish and German, is the propaganda arm of the Russian state and aims to undermine confidence in Western institutions.
UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said in a letter to state media regulator Ofcom that she was concerned RT would seek to spread “harmful disinformation” about the Russia-Ukraine crisis, while urging it to take action if needed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded to questions about whether RT should be banned in the UK saying Ofcom should make its own decisions.
“We live in a country that believes in free speech,” Johnson told parliament. “And I think it’s important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban – that’s what Russia does.”
