THE SNP’s Westminster leader has urged a boycott of Alex Salmond’s show on Kremlin TV.

Ian Blackford said he would personally snub the former First Minister’s weekly programme on the Russian propaganda channel RT and advised others to do likewise.

However he defended the continued presence of the show’s co-host and producer Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on the SNP’s ruling national executive committee (NEC).

It was also reported that a plan to install Mr Salmond as chair of one of the country’s main newspaper groups has been shelved.

Ms Salmond has faced growing criticism for lending the channel credibility in the wake of the suspected Russian nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

His show last week included two guests who cast doubt on Russian involvement in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Asked on ITV’s Peston on Sunday whether Mr Salmond should “honourably withdraw” for the sake of the SNP, Mr Blackford said: “

“Alex is a private individual. What he does is always his responsibility. The fact remains that there are dozens of MPs who have appeared on RT over the course of the last couple of years and many MPs have been paid to be on that show.

“I personally wouldn’t go on it. I wouldn’t encourage people to go on it, but what Alex does is his own business.”

Mr Backford was then asked whether it was appropriate for former MP Ms Ahmed-Sheikh to be involved with the show while on on the NEC.

He said: “She’s not a paid official of the party. She’s on the National Executive. She’s elected by the party. She does a very valuable role when it comes to women’s inequality issues.

“One of the things we should be calling out are the abuses that happen in Russia. I think that’s the more fundamental point. It’s about how we respond to the attacks that are taking place on the streets of the United Kingdom over the course of the last couple of weeks.”

Last November, Mr Salmond announced he had joined a “dream team” planning to take control of Johnston Press, publishers of the Scotsman, in a boardroom coup.

Activist shareholder Christen Ager-Hanssen, whose Custos Group is the largest shareholder, in the company, planned Mr Salmond as chair if the plan succeeded.

However Mr Ager-Hanssen told the Sunday Times he had now decided to park the plan, and would “wait and see what happens” at Johnston Press instead.

He said: “It’s all about timing… Speculation about who I want to put on the board at this stage doesn’t matter anymore. We no longer want to put anyone on the board of Johnston. Our plan now is to sit and wait.”

The paper said that after initially refusing to comment on the controversy around Mr Salmond and RT, Mr Ager-Hanssen rang the paper back after a call from Mr Salmond.

Mr Ager-Hanssen then denied there was a connection between RT and his decision.

He said: “You can’t combine these two things. I have full trust in Alex Salmond.”

Mr Salmond also told the paper: “Your suggestion is balderdash. Or as we say on RT, vzdor [nonsense].”

Nicola Sturgeon said when Mr Salmond’s show was announced in November that she would have advised him against going on RT, and has banned her ministers from appearing on it.