Russian state broadcaster RT has its UK bank accounts frozen by NatWest as pro-Putin mouthpiece accuses British of trampling free speech

RUSSIA’S state telly station is having its accounts at NatWest shut down.

The RT channel — formerly Russia Today — has been told it is no longer welcome as a customer.

The Kremlin mouthpiece’s accounts will be shut on December 12.

NatWest, owned by bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland, said it was “not prepared to enter into any discussion”.

It refused to give a reason for its action.

But the move follows rising tensions over Russia’s bombing of Syria.

RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan announced in a tweet: “They’ve closed our accounts in Britain.

“All our accounts. Praise be to freedom of speech!”

She said some were the personal accounts of senior staff.

The Kremlin accused Britain of flouting “obligations towards freedom of speech”.

But No10 insisted the bank had acted “independently”.

RBS, which is 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer, denied the accounts had been immediately frozen.

It said: “The bank accounts remain open and are still operative.”

The channel vowed: “RT UK will continue its operations uninterrupted.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is known to be a big fan of the channel.

The leftie urged telly viewers fed up with coverage of Prince William marrying Kate Middleton in 2011 to “try Russia Today”.

He tweeted: “Free of Royal Wedding and more objective on Libya than most.”