MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. The Australian Federal Police has launched a preliminary investigation against Russia’s RT TV channel as an alleged foreign agent, RT Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan said on Twitter on Tuesday.

"Australia’s Federal Police has opened a preliminary investigation against RT as an alleged foreign agent. Refusing to be registered if declared a foreign agent will lead to criminal liability," the tweet reads.

According to Simonyan, since RT started broadcasting in Australia, it received no claims from the country’s regulatory authorities.