On Thursday, the production business behind RT America, the pro-Putin American version of Russia's RT network, halted operations and laid off the majority of its employees.
Misha Solodovnikov, T&R Productions' general manager, according to an employee note acquired by CNN, notified employees that "unexpected business interruption events" forced the company to stop production immediately.
Solodovnikov told colleagues that RT America was likely coming to an end. "Unfortunately, we predict that this layoff will be permanent, implying that most T&R personnel at all sites will be permanently separated from employment," he wrote.
DirecTV, one of just two U.S. providers offering the network, said earlier this week that it was removing the channel, and former Sunday Night Live actor Dennis Miller stepped down from the morning show he presented on the network, "Dennis Miller + One."
RT America was described as "Russia's state-run propaganda factory" that served as a platform for Kremlin message to Russian and foreign audiences in a declassified US intelligence report from 2017.
Per the report, the head of a Kremlin-funded news organization implicated in Russia's alleged election meddling in 2016 says she hopes the grave schism between Moscow and Washington can be bridged.
For more than a decade, Margarita Simonyan has served as the editor-in-chief of RT, formerly known as Russia Today. But, until recently, few people outside of Russia had heard of her.
In a blog post for Talkers magazine, Holland Cooke, the host of RT America's The Big Picture, confirmed the news, saying, "We've been canceled, by cable/satellite/online distribution channels."
The ruling basically shuts down the American counterpart of RT, which runs a cable and satellite TV channel as well as certain video-centric social media sites, all of which have traditionally supported the Russian government's position on big news topics.
RT America was under fire for its coverage of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, with critics accusing the Russia-sponsored news outlet of peddling Kremlin misinformation.
Employees at RT America learned there would be no live programming on Wednesday and were urged to return to the office at 12 on Thursday for more information, according to a source.
In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, other versions of RT are being scrutinized around the world. The channel has been decommissioned in Canada and outlawed in Europe, with the United Kingdom investigating it for violating its impartiality standards.
