Kremlin media chiefs are pulling one of their most controversial mouthpieces out of the UK amid claims of an “increasingly hostile” political environment.
Russian officials confirmed yesterday that they will close the Edinburgh and London operations of the state news outlet Sputnik, regarded by Nato as one of President Putin’s “disinformation weapons”.
It arrived in 2016 with ambitions to carve out a slice of the UK media market and hired people such as Tommy Sheridan, the one-time socialist firebrand who is now a member of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party.
Sputnik said it was moving its English-speaking reporting to Washington and Moscow to “reallocate [its] global resources in the most efficient way”. About 20 jobs will be lost. The decision is understood to have surprised
