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The BBC will “temporarily suspend” the work of all its BBC News journalists and support staff in Russia.
This follows the news that new legislation has been passed by the Russian authorities, which BBC director general Tim Davie said appeared to “criminalise the process of independent journalism”.
The Russian parliament approved the law on Friday. It would make it a criminal offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison to spread “fake” or “false” news about the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
It comes after the Kremlin accused the BBC of playing a “determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security”.
Davie said:
It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists 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.
Davie said the safety of the BBC’s staff was paramount and they are are “not prepared to expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs”.
He continued:
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 journalists in Ukraine and around the world will continue to report on the invasion of Ukraine.
Here’s a roundup of Friday afternoon’s news in response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the BBC has stopped its news operation in Russia.
That’s it from us for today. For the latest news on Ukraine, follow our dedicated live blog:
Here’s a bit more detail from Reuters about the legislation that has prompted the BBC to suspend its work in Russia:
Russia’s upper house of parliament approved a draft law on Friday that would impose a jail term of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread “fake” information about Russia’s armed forces, the TASS news agency reported.
The bill will become law once President Vladimir Putin signs it, as he is widely expected to do. Moscow says it is fighting back in what it casts as an information war with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile The Moscow Times reports that the document was adopted unanimously.
Examples of “fakes” about military operations that are punishable by up to 15 years in prison were provided to the lawmakers including the use of old photos of burned military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that have been photoshopped to have markings of the Russian military.
The explanatory note to the bill also states that Ukrainian media is using footage of the devastation in the Donbas region from 2014-2015 and passing it off as crimes perpetrated by the Russian military in order to “create a global negative image of Russia as a ‘bloody aggressor’ and whip up panic in society.”
The news about the BBC suspending operations in Russia comes amid a debate about the Kremlin-backed RT news channel, formerly known as Russia Today.
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has opened 27 investigations into the “due impartiality” of programmes broadcast on the channel.
Meanwhile culture secretary Nadine Dorries has said RT should lose its licence and “never again” be able to broadcast “poisonous propaganda”.
But Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, warned earlier this week that the BBC risked being banned in Russia if RT was shut down in the UK.
Reports that BBC News services were being blocked in Russia prompted the broadcaster to issue a statement on Friday morning, saying it would “continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world”.
It also shared a link to an article reminding viewers that its Ukrainian and Russian language services are available on the dark web.
The BBC has made its international news website available through the Tor network, a privacy-focused software used to access the dark web, in a bid to thwart censorship attempts.
The Metropolitan police’s war crimes team is gathering evidence in relation to alleged war crimes in Ukraine to support the international criminal court (ICC) investigation, the force said.
The team is part of counter-terrorism command and has “national responsibility for carrying out any UK enquiries into war crimes and core international crimes”.
Detectives are appealing for anyone in the UK who may have direct evidence of war crimes in Ukraine from 21 November 2013 onwards to come forward, and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have witnessed or been the victim of any war crimes in Ukraine during this period, PA News reports.
Evidence given to and gathered by the war crimes team may then be shared with the international criminal court to assist with their investigation.
The BBC will “temporarily suspend” the work of all its BBC News journalists and support staff in Russia.
This follows the news that new legislation has been passed by the Russian authorities, which BBC director general Tim Davie said appeared to “criminalise the process of independent journalism”.
The Russian parliament approved the law on Friday. It would make it a criminal offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison to spread “fake” or “false” news about the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
It comes after the Kremlin accused the BBC of playing a “determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security”.
Davie said:
It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists 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.
Davie said the safety of the BBC’s staff was paramount and they are are “not prepared to expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs”.
He continued:
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 journalists in Ukraine and around the world will continue to report on the invasion of Ukraine.
As the UK government seeks ways to take on Russian oligarchs with links to Vladimir Putin’s regime, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has asked government lawyers to “find literally any way” to crack down on “Slapps” – or strategic lawsuits against public participation – where the wealthy exploit lengthy and expensive legal procedures to silence journalists, critics and watchdogs.
How do Slapps differ from ordinary defamation lawsuits?
While Slapps generally arise out of defamation lawsuits and ostensibly have the same purpose – of protecting the claimant’s reputation – they are seen as an attempt to shut down public criticism, with the claimant often indifferent about whether they actually win the case.
What is the threat posed by Slapps?
The fear is that they discourage investigative reporting into rich and powerful people because of the potential costs of defending a claim, even if it has little or no merit.
In a parliamentary debate on Slapps in January, David Davis, a Conservative MP and former cabinet minister, said “nefarious” actors were using the justice system “to threaten, intimidate and put the fear of God into British journalists, citizens, officials and media organisations”. He described such tactics as “lawfare”.
The Foreign Policy Centre said the UK was “the most frequent country of origin” for foreign legal threats against investigative journalists.
How are Slapps connected to Russian oligarchs?
The use of Slapps is not confined to Russians but one of the most notorious recent examples, characterised as such by MPs as well as free speech campaigners, related to Putin’s People, a book written by the journalist Catherine Belton about the Russian leader.
She and her publisher, HarperCollins, were sued over a number of matters in the book by multiple Russian billionaires, including Roman Abramovich, who owns Chelsea football club, Mikhail Fridman, the owner of Russia’s largest non-state bank, and the Russian state oil company Rosneft. All of the claims were subsequently settled or withdrawn. Abramovich ended his case after HarperCollins accepted some information concerning him was inaccurate and agreed to make revisions to the book. HarperCollins apologised and agreed to make a payment to charity in recognition of a particular error, but otherwise no damages were paid and both sides agreed to pay their own costs.
Read more here:
Anas Sarwar praised the “inspirational bravery” of the Ukrainian people in the face of the Russian invasion.
Having led applause in support of Ukraine earlier in the day, the Scottish Labour leader argued that Vladimir Putin “will not win” and insisted peace will prevail.
Sarwar said:
We unequivocally reject any – any – false attempts to justify Russian aggression, and we stand in solidarity with those fleeing war and those who are staying to defend their homeland.
Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is unprovoked and unjustifiable. Across the world today the message is clear – peace and democracy must prevail and we will not bend to Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions.
We must provide more humanitarian assistance to defeat the horrors of war: hunger, destitution and need.
We must further tighten the economic measures taken against Vladimir Putin’s regime and we must, once and for all, root out the free flow of Russian money and influence and the Russian disinformation campaign from our public life, across the UK and here in Scotland.
The first minister of Wales has said that he regrets the ending of free coronavirus testing, but that it was inevitable after the UK government ended the programme.
Mark Drakeford said he had attempted to persuade the UK government to take a “more gradual” approach to the running down of test and trace but had been rebuffed.
Drakeford said:
I think that is a genuine anxiety and it is why we have attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the UK government to take a more gradual approach to the rundown of testing and the infrastructure that has served us so well over the last two years,
We will devote some of the testing that we have available to us through our own means in ways that will allow surveillance to continue.
We continue to have conversations with the UK government about the need to ensure both that there is sufficient surveillance in place and that should it be necessary to step up the level of protection again through a more widespread testing regime, there’s a proper plan and proper capacity to be able to do that.
In the end, when the UK government makes these decisions, they have a direct effect on us. We’ve had to plan within the constraints that we unavoidably face.
Covid-19 infection levels have fallen in England and Northern Ireland but increased in Scotland, while the trend in Wales is “uncertain”, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS figures reveal that in England, around one in 30 people in private households are estimated to have had the virus in the week to 26 February, or 1.9 million people – down from one in 25, or 2.1 million people in the week to 19 February.
For Northern Ireland the proportion of people with Covid-19 has fallen to one in 17, or 106,300 people, from one in 14, 132,700 people.
But Scotland saw a slight increase week-on-week, up from one in 20, or 240,700 people, to one in 19, or 280,500.
In Wales the estimate remains around one in 30, or 94,200, with the ONS describing the trend in the most recent week as “uncertain”.
The Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine appeal has raised 55 million in its first day.
The total includes “generous” donations from the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, DEC said.
It said hundreds of thousands of members of the public donated to the humanitarian appeal within hours of its launch on Thursday.
The total includes 20 million donated by the UK Government as part of its UK Aid Match scheme – the largest commitment ever made to a DEC appeal through the initiative.
Saleh Saeed, the chief executive of the DEC, said:
We are also very grateful for the generous support of the royal family.”
We also thank the UK Government who have matched pound for pound the first 20 million donated by the public, as well as our broadcast partners and celebrities for having aired and joined the appeal, reaching millions of viewers and listeners.
Giving through the DEC is the most effective way to get the right assistance to the right people. While wanting to collect clothes and other items for people in need is laudable, the things people give today may not be what people need tomorrow and aid workers say they can’t use much of what is arriving. Donating through the DEC is the most helpful way people
Ben Wallace accused Russia of “playing with fire” by shelling a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Speaking at a news conference in Copenhagen, the defence secretary added that the UK government “call upon the Russian president in the strongest possible terms to absolutely cease attacking sites” such as the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
He said:
It is incredibly dangerous. It is not just dangerous for Ukraine and Russia, it is dangerous for Europe, and it is playing with fire that really is beyond anything that has to do with logic or necessity.
Liz Truss, who is in Brussels to meet with her counterparts to discuss next steps in responding to Russia’s aggression, has said the meeting will be used to show “the strength of our unity in challenging Vladimir Putin”.
The foreign secretary said:
We are doing all we can to support the Ukrainians through defensive weapons where the UK led – we were the first European country to donate defensive weapons – and we are also going to be talking about sanctions.
We have been very co-ordinated in sanctions, we have shown huge unity, it is having a big effect in Russia – but we now need to do more.
We particularly need to look at the oil and gas sector, how do we reduce our dependence across Europe on Russian gas, how do we cut off the funding to Vladimir Putin’s war machine? That is what I am going to be advocating at both the G7 and the discussions with the EU.
The shelling of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine by Russian troops is “a threat to European security and stability”, Liz Truss has said.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been seized by Russian military forces, according to regional authorities, after a fire sparked by overnight shelling burned for several hours at the largest facility of its kind in Europe.
Speaking in Brussels, where ministers from across the West are gathering today to discuss how to respond to Russian aggression, the foreign secretary told journalists that those responsible for the “completely reckless act” must be “held to account”.
Asked how concerned she is about the incident, Truss said:
Well this was a completely reckless act.
We’ve heard now that the fire has been extinguished, but it is extremely concerning that forces are prepared to do this. We have called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.
This is a threat to European security and stability and we need those responsible to be held to account.
Here’s more about what has happened at the nuclear plant:
Priti Patel has said Ukrainians fleeing into Poland were escaping “the most atrocious set of circumstances where they are being persecuted by President Putin”.
Speaking on a visit to the Polish border, the home secretary told reporters she was in the country “very much in terms of standing in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, but also with our friends here in Poland”.
She said she wanted to “to see the work that they’re doing and also to see how we can support Poland much more in terms of helping those Ukrainians with links to the United Kingdom to come to Britain, and actually we’ve been discussing some of that work here today”.
Patel said:
We’re also launching our new family extension route today to enable Ukrainian families with links to the UK to come over to Britain. That scheme is live, that is now working, that’s up and running.
We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine but also with our dear friends here in Poland, who are working really [hard] night and day, we can all see this, under incredible circumstances.
Boris Johnson is concerned for the safety of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister has regularly spoken to the Ukrainian leader and has expressed his personal admiration of him and a spokesman for the PM was asked whether Johnson was worried about attempts reportedly made on Zelenskiy’s life.
He said:
Of course, everybody’s concerned for the safety and welfare of the president of Ukraine and the rest of the government, as well as the people of Ukraine who we’ve seen indiscriminately targeted over recent days.