Britain's BBC said on Friday it would temporarily suspend the work of all its journalists and support staff in Russia after the introduction of a new law that could jail anyone found to be intentionally spreading “fake” news.

Tim Davie, the director-general of the BBC, said in a statement the legislation appeared to criminalise the process of independent journalism.

“It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development,” he said.

He said the BBC News service in Russian would continue to operate from outside Russia.

“The safety of our staff is paramount and we are not prepared to expose them to the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs,” Davie said.

Reuters