Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a US-backed news agency that suspended operations in Russia Sunday morning, after the IRS initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Radio Liberty and other news organizations. “an assault on the truth.”
“It is with the deepest regret that I announce the suspension of our physical operations in Moscow today,” said RFE/RL President & CEO Jamie Fly Make a statement. “This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth.”
Radio Free Europe is an American government-backed news organisation that seeks independent reporting for countries where freedom is limited.
RFE released a statement saying that its journalists were being threatened and that the closure was the culmination. “a years-long pressure campaign against RFE/RL, which hasmaintained a physical presence in Russia since 1991when it established its Moscow bureau at the invitation of then-President Boris Yeltsin.”
Russia has been blocking many Russian-language websites that produce news content from outside Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. CNN, ABC, and CBS are just a few of the news outlets that were forced to stop reporting from Russia by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s March 4 law. This law imposes a 15 year prison sentence on those who spread false information. “disinformation”About the war in Ukraine, including its designation as a “War” “war”And not a “special military operation.”
The Kremlin also blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
According to the RFE statement, nine of the agency’s Russian-language websites were blocked in the last week after refusing to comply with the Russian government’s demands to delete information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Fly has the complete statement.
“It is with the deepest regret that I announce the suspension of our physical operations in Moscow today. This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth. Following years of threats, intimidation and harassment of our journalists, the Kremlin, desperate to prevent Russian citizens from knowing the truth about its illegal war in Ukraine, is now branding honest journalists as traitors to the Russian state. We will continue to expand our reporting for Russian audiences and will use every platform possible to reach them at a time when they need our journalism more than ever. Despite this bleak moment, we know from our organization’s 70-year history that one day, perhaps sooner than many think, we will be able to reopen a bureau in Russia. Time is on the side of liberty, even in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”
