This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Ofcom has opened three new investigations into the Kremlin-backed news channel RT for potential breaches of the broadcasting standards code, on top of the seven investigations it announced last month.

The media regulator placed the 24-hour news channel’s output under additional scrutiny after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, which has been blamed on Russia.

The latest potential breaches identified by Ofcom include an episode of RT’s flagship CrossTalk discussion show broadcast on 20 April, which described all of the US government’s potential strategies in the Syrian civil war as “poorly thought-out options”.

The regulator will also investigate two news items on the channel, originally known as Russia Today, for alleged lack of balance.

One, captioned “Face of nationalism”, discussed the Ukrainian government’s position on nazism and the treatment of Roma Gypsies.

The second was a report on the treatment of anti-fracking activists by the UK authorities, which included interviews with Bob Dennett, the co-founder of campaign group Frack Free, and Joe Corré, an anti-fracking activist.

“We note the new investigations by Ofcom, and will work with the regulator through its processes,” said a spokesperson for the Russian channel.

An Ofcom spokesperson said RT has historically had an acceptable record when it comes to breaches of broadcasting rules. However, when the regulator began extended monitoring of the channel after the Salisbury attack it discovered multiple potential breaches of the UK code. The regulator said that as a result it would continue to monitor the output for the foreseeable future, given the number of potential breaches.

An 11th investigation into RT, dating from the end of last year, is continuing into the apparent use of fake tweets by the former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond on his eponymous show.

In extreme circumstances Ofcom has the power to withdraw RT’s ability to broadcast in the UK for continuous breaches of broadcasting regulations, depriving it of the right to be distributed through Freeview, satellite and cable services.

However, this would not necessarily be a disaster for the business. RT has delighted in its outsider status, holding up official criticism of its output as evidence that it is speaking truth to power and giving an alternative view.

Prof Stephen Hutchings, of the University of Manchester, who is leading a research project into RT, said this month that the broadcaster’s future could lie in its successful and unregulated online operation.

“They would love for Ofcom to ban them,” he claimed.