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RT say the decision has come out of the blue, and gives no explanation why NatWest are freezing the accounts. The Royal Band of Scotland Group, of which NatWest is part of, would also refuse to serve RT at any point in the future. The Russian broadcasters's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan tweeted; "They've closed our accounts in Britain. All our accounts. 'The decision is not subject to review.' Praise be to freedom of speech!" The letter, that has been posted online, shows the accounts aren't frozen just yet - though all banking facilities will be 'cancelled and closed' by the 12th December. The media group have called this an attack on freedom of speech; "They have failed to defeat us by simply vilifying us, by picking on our broadcast, so they decided to try the banking flank: 'Try broadcasting when all your accounts have been closed.' Yet we will try." RT UK have blamed the British Government for the out-of-the- blue move. They point out that NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group have a significant shareholding from the UK Government, though the Treasury has denied any involvement. The reaction is Russia hasn't been a positive one - with many Russian officials seeing this as a direct attack on their country. One of Russian parliament's upper house members, Igor Morozov, has called for the BBC's bank accounts in Russia to be 'arrested' as a reprisal, while MP Sergei Zheleznyak told the Interfax news agency 'We will be demanding an explanation from Britain's official authorities in connection with this situation'. The Russian broadcasting company, known for speaking out against the actions of the UK and US governments and reporting topics from a Russian perspective, hasn't had to find its story today - it landed through their post-box this morning. What this means for UK / Russian relations is yet to be seen, though doesn't come at a good time. 10 ISSUE 92 / 2016 GUESTLIST The Russian-backed broadcaster, RT are having their UK branches bank accounts frozen by NatWest. In a letter they received from the bank, RT were told that all their accounts will be frozen and closed by December this year - and the decision is final. NATWEST FREEZE RT'S BRITISH BANK ACCOUNTS MEDIA WATCH HUNGARY VOTES AGAINST EU MIGRANT QUOTAS Though low turn-out means the result should be invalid. Hungarians had their own referendum this October. They went to the polls to make a decision on whether the country should accept the EU quota of immigrants. The stakes weren't as high as ours, though the consequences pretty were similar - a rejection of Brussels policy making. Their Prime Minister; right- winger Viktor Orban, strongly opposed the EU's plan which would see 1,294 migrants sent to settle in Hungary over a two year period. Apparently his people backed him as around 98% of people voted against the quotas. But not exactly - as only 43% of people actually turned out to cast their votes, rendering this referendum result invalid. Though, try telling that to Orban... He's heralded the result as a victory for his government, and will only fuel his anti-EU campaign. A government spokesperson stated that the result is 'politically and legally' binding, and Orban has told the EU to take note. But opposition members say that the low turn out means that most people do not agree with him. In some ways Orban has won his campaign - however we cannot detach from his inability to convince most Hungarians out to vote, in this sense it's a lose. Tensions have risen in the central European country after thousands of migrants traveled through it last summer hoping to get to richer EU states including Germany and Austria. Efforts to stop this included sealing their borders with Croatia and Serbia with razor- wire fence - despite strong criticism from human rights groups.

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