RT, which was formerly known as Russia Today, has been told it could face sanctions if it continues to broadcast biased news reports in the UK.

Ofcom, which ensures British TV news broadcasts meet impartiality standards, said the channel failed to give "an appropriately wide range of significant views and give those views due weight" during four news reports about Ukraine made during March 2014.

Potential sanctions could involve fines or, in extreme cases, the loss of a broadcast licence. The station also has to attend meetings with Ofcom to ensure its news output is impartial in the future.

Complaints centred on RT's failure to give airtime to the views of the Ukrainian government in the run-up to Russia's annexation of Crimea during four broadcasts.

RT argued that many of the complaints were not valid, since the news reports dealt with given facts that did not need to be presented alongside an alternative viewpoint.

These factual matters, according to RT, included saying the new Ukrainian Government "was of doubtful legitimacy", stating that "anti-Russian legislation was one of the first results of the overthrow of the preceding government", and stating how the Right Sector, "an extremist and violent group", was participating in the new Ukrainian government.

Ofcom published a a 40-page report into the matter on Monday, in which it accepted that RT would want to "present the news from a Russian perspective" but said all four broadcasts it investigated "failed to preserve due impartiality".

A spokesman for the regulator said: "Since RT started broadcasting in the UK nine years ago, Ofcom has recorded breaches of the rules on ten occasions covering various issues, ranging from the amount of advertising, to due impartiality and graphic images."

"We have put RT on notice as a result of this breach and if RT breaches our due impartiality rules again we will consider taking further regulatory action, such as imposing a sanction."