(Adds detail, background)
MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Russia's communications
regulator on Tuesday accused the BBC World News channel of
flouting Russian broadcasting rules and said a court would hear
its detailed complaints later this month.
Britain's ties with Russia are at post Cold War lows over
the 2018 poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a mole who betrayed
hundreds of Russian agents to Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service.
Britain said Russian military intelligence poisoned Skripal
and his daughter Yulia with a Soviet-developed nerve agent known
as Novichok. Russia repeatedly denied any involvement and said
Britain staged the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.
Moscow has repeatedly told London that British media like
the BBC should expect consequences if Russia's state-financed RT
television channel encounters difficulties in Britain.
Ofcom, Britain's media regulator, last year fined RT for
breaching impartiality rules in broadcasts over the Skripal
poisoning, the conflict in Syria, and Ukraine's polices on
Nazism and gypsies.
On Tuesday, Russia's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor,
said the BBC had failed to label violent or upsetting content
with the correct age certificate and had not submitted copies of
its content to the Russian authorities on time.
Moscow could hit the BBC with two fines of up to 200,000
roubles ($3,050) for the first offence and up to 20,000 roubles
for the second. The court hearing is due on March 12,
Roskomnadzor said.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
($1 = 65.4150 roubles)
(Reporting by Nadezhda Tsydenova; additional reporting by
Alexander Marrow and Polina Devitt;
Writing by Tom Balmforth;
Editing by Andrew Osborn)