Shortwave transmitting station of the USA International Broadcasting Bureau near Biblis, Germany, used to broadcast programmes of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty into Eastern Europe and Russia. Photo: Kuebi wikimedia.org
Thirty years after opening an office in Moscow, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) appears to be on its way out. The group has become a victim of both punishing legislation designed to constrain and demonise foreign media and journalists, as well as related fines that now stand at 2.3 million US dollars.
While RFE/RL President Jamie Fly has condemned
Russia’s attempts to force the broadcaster and the Current Time video-producing
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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, where I served briefly as president and CEO until earlier this year, is under assault by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Through his agencies and obedient courts, he is blackmailing the media organization funded by U.S. taxpayers, issuing fines and threats of criminal prosecutions unless Radio Liberty agrees to play by his rules. Because of the actions already taken by the Kremlin, RFE/RL is facing a defining choice: whether to keep its news bureau staff in Moscow (along with its freelance reporters) or to reduce its presence in Putin’s Russia.
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WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department says press freedom in Russia is under growing threat as authorities slap RFE/RL and other media organizations with restrictive “foreign agent” labels and fines.
Speaking at a press briefing on April 29, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the Russian government is increasingly “intolerant of outside perspectives” as it moves to quash any dissent in the country.
The comments come as Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has hit RFE/RL’s Russian-language services with fines of nearly $1 million in recent months for hundreds of violations of the “foreign agent” law.
In its latest salvo against independent media, the Russian government designated the Latvia-based Meduza as a “foreign agent,” taking aim at a top Russian news source.
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