The American division of the Russian state media RT cuts staff and closes effectively amid the backlash of war Ukraine.
Misha Solodvnikov, general manager of T&R Production, made the announcement in a note on Thursday.
He told the network’s 100-member staff that RT America would “suspend production … as a result of unforeseen business interruptions”.
“Unfortunately, we expect this dismissal to be permanent, which means that it will lead to the permanent dismissal of most T&R employees in all places,” Solodovnikov wrote. “We deeply regret and understand the uncertainty that this action will cause to our valuable employees.”
RT America was isolated in the United States and most of Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
The network, considered one of Putin’s main mouthpieces in the United States, called the unprovoked invasion a “minor invasion for defense purposes.”
Their position quickly provoked a backlash and some RT staff publicly resigned, and a number of TV providers, streaming technology service Roku and social media cut ties with the network.
The satellite TV company DirecTV recently announced that it will stop the channel on March 1, before the contract, which will expire later this year.
“In line with our previous agreement with RT America, we are speeding up the expiration of this year’s contract and will no longer offer their programming, which will take effect immediately,” a spokesman said.
Dish, which also carries the network, did not comment on its connection to the Kremlin-backed channel. Formerly known as Russia Today, RT has sister stations around the world, including the United Kingdom and France, which were also recently shut down.
YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook’s parent company Meta have also banned RT content on their platforms in Europe, with Meta CEO Nick Clegg hinting that a decision has been made on the “exceptional nature of the current situation” in Ukraine.
RT, formerly known as Russia Today, announced the closure of its US branch on Thursday. The state-funded television network produces news content in English and several other languages around the world. Pictured: RT employees work at her international studio in Moscow, Russia.
The RT America app will also be removed from Microsoft and Apple app stores in all countries except Russia. YouTube, TikTok and the parent company Facebook Meta have also banned RT content on their platforms in Europe
The RT app will no longer be available in Microsoft and Apple app stores in all countries except Russia.
Spotify and Roku have also removed RT-related podcasts from their platform.
The network has also lost some of its key talent over the past month. Talk show host and comedian Dennis Miller, 68, has announced that he will abandon his show Dennis Miller + One. It started broadcasting on the channel in March 2020.
Actor William Shatner will also stop doing business with RT outside of his contract with the network after producing 70 episodes of the show for production company Ora TV, which then sold it to RT America.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, the 90-year-old said that all Ora TV productions for RT America have been stopped. “I look forward to what will happen, but I have full sympathy for Ukraine,” he said.
Nick Clegg, CEO of Meta, said on Twitter that RT’s content will be restricted on social media in Europe, including Facebook, one of the company’s social networks.
Dennis Miller, 68, also announced the immediate cancellation of his popular RT show Dennis Miller + One amid growing tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine.
90-year-old William Shatner will also stop working for RT after producing 70 episodes of a show for production company Ora TV, which then sold it to RT America
Although RT America’s audience in the United States is difficult to scale, the news publication received a lot of online traffic by increasing social media posts from conservative media companies.
“RT’s goal is for Russia to fight the West and democratic values at cheap prices,” Robert Ortung, a professor of international relations at George Washington University, told the Washington Post.
“It’s easier to pay for this kind of divisive media coverage than to build an army equal to that of the United States and its allies.”
However, its sudden cessation should come as no surprise, given the current political climate, he added. “With sanctions that seriously bite the Russian economy and state revenues, the Kremlin will cut its most unproductive assets,” Ortung said.
RT America’s YouTube channel, which has 1.2 million subscribers, remains live.
In his columnhost of the network, Holland Cook defended RT America’s reputation as well as its integrity.
“I’ve never been censored and I’ve never given a screenplay,” he wrote, praising his “100+ enthusiastic, smart colleagues, with whom I really enjoyed working together at a lively broadcast center, beautiful and well-equipped, two blocks away.” from the White House, with an amazing high-tech coffee machine. ‘
In 2017, the Ministry of Justice demanded that RT’s operations in the United States be registered as a foreign agent, which angered Russian leaders. U.S. intelligence agencies say RT acted as propaganda for the Kremlin. This did not limit the content of the channel, but it meant that it had to disclose its funding and label its content.
The staff of the network, which is based in Washington, but has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, will receive compensation for the next two months.
RT will now be broadcasting on Rumble, a YouTube-like video site, this week. Rumble is a video site popular with American political conservatives. In December, the media venture of former US President Donald Trump, Trump Media and Technology Group, said that Rumble will provide video and streaming for Truth Social, the company’s social media application, which launched at Apple
Dailymail.com contacted Solodovnikov and RT for comment.