The regulator has rules in place requiring broadcast news to be presented with due impartiality and its investigation found that RT failed to preserve due impartiality in seven news and current affairs programmes between 17 March and 26 April 2018.

Taken together, these breaches represented serious and repeated failures of compliance with the rules. Ofcom was particularly concerned by the frequency of RT’s rule-breaking over a relatively short period of time.

The programmes were mostly in relation to major matters of political controversy and current public policy – namely the UK Government’s response to the events in Salisbury, and the Syrian conflict.

Ofcom imposed a financial penalty of £200,000 and directed RT to broadcast a summary of Ofcom’s findings, in a form and on dates to be determined by Ofcom.

The regulator said: “We consider this sanction to be appropriate and proportionate. They take into account the additional steps that RT has taken to ensure its compliance since we launched our investigations; and that we have not recorded any further breaches of our due impartiality rules against RT to date.

“Ofcom will await the conclusion of RT’s application for judicial review of our breach decisions before enforcing the sanction.”