Sturgeon 'appalled' by Salmond's continued involvement with Russia Today

Nicola Sturgeon has said she is “appalled” that Alex Salmond continues to be involved with Kremlin-backed broadcaster Russia Today.

The former first minister, who now leads the Alba party, hosts a weekly magazine show on the station which is coming under renewed pressure over its coverage of the situation in Ukraine. 

On Wednesday Boris Johnson revealed that Nadine Dorries, the Secretary of State for Culture had written to regulators Ofcom asking them to look at whether the station should be allowed to continue to operate in the UK.

Her letter said the Russia Government was “conducting an aggressive set of information operations against Ukraine and NATO” and added: “RT is demonstrably part of Russia's global disinformation campaign, as its own Editor-in-Chief has made clear in the past, who has called the network an ‘information weapon’ of the Russian state.”

Asked by STV if she agreed with calls for the channel to be banned, Sturgeon said that she did. 

The First Minister added: “It’s a matter for Ofcom, but I do think there is now a very serious question about whether RT should continue to have a licence to broadcast here in Scotland and I would certainly encourage Ofcom to look at that very, very seriously and closely indeed."

Asked about Salmond’s show, Sturgeon said: “I’m appalled at Alex Salmond’s continued involvement with RT, I don’t think it’s any secret now that I don’t think he should ever have had a television show on RT, but it is even more unthinkable now that that should continue.”

The SNP leader said she didn’t think elected officials should appear on the broadcaster.

She said: “I don’t think any elected representative should be contemplating appearing on RT right now, I will give that message – have given that message – to elected officials here at the Scottish Parliament, I know Ian Blackford has done so in Westminster.”

Green MSP Ross Greer said Salmond’s continued involvement “with Putin’s RT propaganda department is utterly disgraceful.”

He added: “He’d struggle to disgrace his own reputation more than is already the case, but as a former First Minister this is causing real reputational damage to Scotland too. If he and the Kremlin’s other useful idiot George Galloway still possessed an ounce of integrity they’d quit that channel immediately. The fact that neither will speaks volumes.”  

Johnson raised Salmond’s show on the channel during Prime Minister’s Questions, when Ian Blackford asked about Russian donations to the Tories.

The SNP Westminster leader called on the Conservatives to return donations from, “Russian oligarchs who give the right people in power a golden handshake”. 

He said: “Plenty of these golden handshakes just so happened to find their way into the coffers of the Conservative Party, £2.3 million in fact, since the Prime Minister took office.”

Johnson insisted his party did not “raise money from Russian oligarchs”. 

He added that Blackford’s “indignation” was “a bit much coming from somebody whose very own Alex Salmond is a leading presenter, as far as I know, on Russia Today, which the leader of the opposition has just called on this country to ban”.

While Alba has condemned Russia’s invasion, they’ve accused western leaders of breaching assurances to Russia that Nato would not expand eastwards. That view is contested.

Neale Hanvey, the former SNP MP who is now Alba’s leader at Westminster, said western leaders must balance “respect for Ukraine’s rights as an independent country including the recognition of the rights of the Russian-speaking minority” with “Russia’s own security interests”.

Hanvey added: “That requires our acceptance that assurances were offered in the 1990s about Nato expansion eastward which have not been kept.”#

SNP’s defence spokesman, Stewart McDonald accused Alba of sharing Russian disinformation about Nato expansion.

He tweeted: “Alba’s line is, generously, a misunderstanding of history. It’s also a favourite Kremlin narrative.”

Alex Salmond has been approached for comment.