BBC World News presenter Victoria Derbyshire first announced the suspension to viewers outside Russia today.

“BBC World News, the channel you are watching if you are outside the UK right now, and which is the BBC’s global television news channel, has just been taken off air in Russia,” she said.

A BBC spokesman said that BBC World News had not been available in Russia since yesterday.

“We regret that our Russian audiences are being denied access to trusted and impartial news at a time when they need it most,” the spokesman said

The BBC said on Friday that it was halting its journalists’ work in Russia after lawmakers moved to impose harsh jail terms for publishing “fake news” about the army as part of efforts to muffle dissent over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.