USAGM condemns Kremlin’s increasing censorship, responds to a surge in demand for reporting from its networks – USAGM

USAGM condemns Kremlin’s increasing censorship, responds to a surge in demand for reporting from its networks

March 5, 2022

Despite the Russian government’s attempted censorship of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), there has been a surge in demand for their content, including their collaborative 24/7 Russian-language channel Current Time. In response, USAGM is expanding program delivery and access with the addition of more affiliate stations in and around Russia and the help of the Open Technology Fund’s tools and resources to circumvent internet censorship.   

“It is clear that by restricting access to RFE/RL and VOA’s fact-based reporting, the Kremlin hopes to keep its own citizens in the dark and to hide the truth,” said Kelu Chao, USAGM’s Acting CEO. “The people of Russia deserve to know the facts about their government’s attacks on Ukraine and how the world is reacting. USAGM will continue to use its resources to bring unbiased information to light at this crucial time.”  

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said, “RFE/RL journalists in Russia have been unfairly slurred as ‘foreign agents,’ detained, and now their accurate reporting about an unpopular war is being blocked. RFE/RL remains committed to delivering objective reporting from inside of Russia for the Russian people despite these outrageous attempts to censor the truth.” Read RFE/RL’s full press release at this link. 

Acting VOA Director Yolanda López said, “The recent threat by the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor to block VOA and other independent media outlets now is a reality for many in our audience there. Our viewers and listeners in Russia deserve access to our factual news content at this critical time, not only about the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also about all vital global events that impact their lives and actions. VOA will continue to promote and support tools and resources that will allow our audiences to bypass any blocking efforts imposed on our sites in Russia. Our journalists will continue their reporting, an example of free press in action.” Read VOA’s full press release at this link. 

Some radio, digital, and direct-to-home satellite transmissions continue to reach Russian audiences, and demand for VOA and RFE/RL’s coverage is intensifying. For example, between February 24 and March 3, Current Time videos were viewed more than 240 million times across digital platforms. In addition, since Russia’s invasion, demand for Current Time content has increased dramatically among broadcast partners in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, and Bulgaria. With the increase over last week, there are 261 affiliates now distributing Current Time content. Between February 26 and March 5, Current Time videos have been viewed on Facebook 76 million times, while VOA’s Russian Service and RFE/RL’s Russian Service videos were each viewed about 8 million times.

From February 23 to March 2, VOA’s Russian Service reported nearly 17 million video views on social platforms, a 159% increase from the week before, while website traffic soared 146%. From February 23 to March 1, audiences viewed RFE/RL videos 436 million times on Facebook, 305 million times on YouTube, and 83 million times on Instagram – reflecting increases of 265%, 406%, and 185%, respectively, over the previous week.

RFE/RL condemns sentencing of former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns sentencing of former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich

March 4, 2022

Washington, D.C. — RFE/RL strongly condemns the March 3 sentencing of its former Belarus Service journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich by a Minsk court to one and a half years in a maximum-security penal colony.

Said RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly, “We strongly condemn this illegitimate persecution of an innocent journalist. His only ‘crime’ was reporting the truth to Belarusians who are now denied that truth by their government. We call for Aleh’s immediate release.”

An award-winning journalist, Hruzdzilovich was arrested on December 23, 2021, and was tried on March 2 for taking part in mass protests against the 2020 presidential election. Hruzdzilovich has consistently rejected the charges, stating he was working as an RFE/RL correspondent with Foreign Ministry accreditation at an August 2020 protest, and covered two other protests in October 2020 on assignment for his employer, the local newspaper Narodnaya Volya. The 63-year old previously served a 10-day sentence in July 2021 and a 15-day sentence in November 2020 for reporting on the protests, which followed the August 2020 presidential election that controversially returned longtime incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka to office for a sixth term. In January, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service published some of Hruzdzilovich’s letters from prison.

Hruzdzilovich is one of three former RFE/RL journalists imprisoned in Belarus. All three have been recognized by the Belarusian Human Rights Centre “Viasna” as political prisoners.

Andrey Kuznechyk, a former web editor for the Belarus Service, was arrested on November 25, 2021, while on a bike ride near his home in Minsk, and has been in detention ever since. After serving two consecutive 10-day administrative sentences for “hooliganism,” Belarusian authorities opened a criminal case on unspecified charges against Kuznechyk on December 23, 2021. Fly has termed Kuznechyk’s situation a “state-sponsored kidnapping.”

Ihar Losik, a consultant for RFE/RL and prominent blogger, was arrested on June 25, 2020, and tried on charges including “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and “preparation for participation in riots.” The five-month, closed-door proceeding resulted, on December 14, 2021, in Losik’s conviction and sentencing to 15 years in prison; his five co-defendants also received harsh sentences of between 14 and 18 years, on charges widely considered to have been fabricated by Belarusian authorities. Fly condemned the trial as an “outrageous travesty of justice.”

In December 2021 Belarus’s Interior Ministry added RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, Radio Svaboda, to its registry of extremist organizations in a continued clampdown on independent media and civil society. The move means that Belarusians who subscribe to Radio Svaboda online could face up to six years in prison. The Belarus Service’s website has been blocked within Belarus since August 21, 2020, while the accreditations of all locally based journalists working for foreign media, including RFE/RL, were annulled by the Belarusian authorities in October 2020.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

RFE/RL strongly condemns blockage of Russian-language websites and harassment of journalists – USAGM

RFE/RL strongly condemns blockage of Russian-language websites and harassment of journalists

February 28, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) strongly condemns the blocking of its Current Time TV and Russian-language Crimea.Realities websites in Russia. Access to the sites was blocked after RFE/RL refused to comply with Russian state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor’s demands to delete information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time of publication, the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar versions of Crimea.Realities remained available in Russia.

Said RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly, “The Kremlin is desperate to prevent the Russian people from learning the facts about the death and destruction the Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing. We will continue to provide the truth to the Russian people at this critical moment.”

This is not the first time Roskomnadzor has sought to intimidate RFE/RL. Most recently, in early February, it threatened to block eight RFE/RL websites serving audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia unless they took down articles tied to corruption investigations by jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team. RFE/RL refused to comply with these demands. Some other Russian news organizations have agreed to comply.

In anticipation that the Kremlin could act on its threats, RFE/RL has been informing its audiences about how to continue to access its reporting in the event that its websites are blocked. Russian-language reporting by Crimea.Realities can be accessed on a mirror site. A Current Time TV mirror site is also available and material can be accessed using VPN client nThlink. In addition, audiences can subscribe to Current Time’s pages on Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok or watch its broadcasts live on YouTube and subscribe to its channel. All materials from the Current Time site are also available on our Google Play and App Store applications, which include a built-in VPN.

In a clear sign of the value audiences place on RFER/RL’s reporting of the war, 527percent more Ukrainians and 275 percent more Russians came to its websites on the first day of the invasion (February 24) than the same day the previous week. RFE/RL Ukrainian Service websites, which include Crimea.Realities and Donbas.Realities, recorded 4.7 million page views that same day, a 313 percent increase over the previous day and a 557 percent rise over the same day one week before. Current Time TV’s live coverage of the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was viewed more than 10 million times across social platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, reflecting a 25-fold increase over the same day the previous week for Current Time’s morning show.

The blocking of RFE/RL’s websites marks another sharp escalation of intimidation tactics by Russian authorities. Since the start of the war, several journalists have been detained and harassed:

In addition, on February 16, a Russia-controlled court in occupied Crimea sentenced RFE/RL freelance correspondent Vladyslav Yesypenko to six years in prison for the alleged possession and transport of explosives, a charge he has steadfastly rejected.

In the past year, Roskomnadzor has issued 1,040 violations against RFE/RL that will result in fines of more than $13.4 million for its refusal to submit to the unjust and invasive content labeling provisions of Russia’s “foreign agent” law. In addition, 18 RFE/RL journalists have been designated as individual “foreign agents.” On February 9, RFE/RL filed its final written submission with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), asking for a hearing to consider the merits of the legal case it filed in May 2021 challenging Russia’s “foreign agent” laws.

On January 26, RFE/RL’s Russian Service was fined 3 million rubles ($39,000) for the alleged “public distribution of knowingly false information about the activities of the U.S.S.R. during World War II.” In fact, the existence of the published material is backed by documents from Russian archives – and RFE/RL is being held liable for actions that are not punishable under Russian law. RFE/RL is appealing the fine, not least to help defend Russia’s shrinking space for press freedom.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

Martín Elías: Condemns his driver Armando Quintero for an accident - Barranquilla - Colombia

On the afternoon of this Thursday, EL TIEMPO learned that the Fourth Criminal Judge of the Sincelejo Circuit sentenced the driver Armando Quintero Ponce to 32 months for the death of Vallenato singer-songwriter Martín Elías Díaz Acosta.

(Also read: This was the tragic accident of Martín Elías on Good Friday)

The judge’s decision comes almost five years after the tragic traffic accident that occurred on the San Onofre (Sucre) – Lorica (Córdoba) road, at the height of the Aguas Negras sector.

The judge determined that the true cause of the death of the Vallenato artist corresponds to excessive speed

The judge indicated that This accident was due to speeding. and established that Quintero Ponce must serve the sentence at home.

“After hypotheses and hypotheses, the judge determined that the true cause of the death of the Vallenato artist corresponds to speeding. The truck was going 157 km/h, when on that road what corresponds is 50 km/h,” said the representative of the victim’s family, Óscar Sierra, to this medium.

Likewise, in the hearing that lasted until the afternoon, a fine of 26.66 current monthly minimum wages was imposed on the accused.

(You may be interested in: The evidence that would show that the death of Martín Elías was homicide)

Defender filed an appeal

Justice is done and this is a component that the family has been waiting for a long time

After hearing the conviction, the defender of Armando Quintero, Raúl Gutiérrez, filed an appeal for details that he will announce in the coming days.

“I file the appeal, which I will support within the following five days, as provided in article 179 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” said the lawyer.

On several occasions, EL TIEMPO has tried to find out the version of Quintero’s attorney, but has received no response. For his part, Lawyer Sierra highlighted the meaning that this ruling has for the family of Martín Elías.

“It has been very painful and a heartbreaking situation for the family. Finally, after so many years, justice is done and this is a component that the family has been waiting for a long time, “he closed.

The reaction of the ex-partner of Martín Elías

After the decision of the Fourth Criminal Judge of the Sincelejo Circuit, one of the reactions that occurred was that of the singer’s ex-wife, Dayana Jaimeswho shared his feelings through social networks.

I thank the doctor @OSierrAbogado to the doctor @DalilaHenao1 for accompanying me in this process during these years, where they represented me as lawyers for the victims, and at all times respected the decisions of the judge and the prosecutor. Thank you for your effort and professionalism. pic.twitter.com/V0oInxtsEi

– Dayana Jaimes (@Dayanajaime) February 24, 2022

“Martín Elías stopped being with us five years ago, leaving his friends, family and followers with deep sadness and a void in vallenato music,” the woman said.

Deivis Lopez Ortega
Correspondent of EL TIEMPO Barranquilla
On Twitter: @DeJhoLopez
Write me at deilop@eltiempo.com

More content from Colombia:

– ELN set fire to three trucks in Pailitas, Cesar

– In Girardot, a man kicked his best friend to death

– This is how the roads of the country are due to the armed strike of the Eln

RFE/RL condemns six year sentence for Ukrainian Service journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns six year sentence for Ukrainian Service journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko

February 16, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) condemns today’s sentencing of RFE/RL freelance journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko to six years in prison by a Russian-controlled court in occupied Crimea.

Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “This judgement against Vladyslav is a travesty. As a journalist doing nothing more than reporting the facts, he should never have been detained in the first place, much less put through the physical and mental torture that he has endured over the past eleven months. Vladyslav needs to be returned home to his wife and daughter immediately.”

Yesypenko, a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen who contributes to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Simferopol on March 10, 2021, on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence. Yesypenko left Crimea for mainland Ukraine with his wife, Kateryna, following the 2014 Russian annexation, where she gave birth to their daughter, Stephania; he would later return to Crimea periodically to report for RFE/RL on the social and environmental situation on the peninsula.

Following his detention, Yesypenko was brutally tortured by Russian FSB officers, to force him to make a false ‘confession’ on Russian television. Yesypenko was formally charged with possession and transport of explosives on July 15, 2021. He pleaded not guilty, facing up to 18 years in prison if convicted. The indictment made no mention of espionage or work for Ukrainian intelligence, as stated previously by the FSB.

Speaking at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington on October 21, 2021, Yesypenko’s wife read out an appeal from her husband. In the letter dictated from his jail cell, Yesypenko called on U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. lawmakers to do more to free the more than 100 political prisoners detained by the FSB over their activities in Crimea.

Sixteen Ukrainian human rights NGOs, Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova, and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv have denounced the verdict in online statements, as has Reporters Without Borders. In December 2021 Amnesty International launched an online petition demanding Yesypenko’s immediate release. Press-freedom advocates, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, along with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the U.S. State Department, are among those who have called for the same in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing.

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

RFE/RL condemns latest Kremlin threats as “political censorship” – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns latest Kremlin threats as “political censorship”

February 5, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) strongly condemns a sharp escalation of intimidation tactics by Russian authorities, which saw state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor overnight threaten to block eight RFE/RL websites serving audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia unless they pulled down articles tied to corruption investigations by jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team.

RFE/RL will not comply with these demands. Said President and CEO Jamie Fly, “RFE/RL will not allow the Kremlin to dictate our editorial decisions. This is a blatant act of political censorship by a government apparently threatened by journalists who are merely reporting the truth.”

Roskomnadzor sent more than 60 e-mail notifications giving RFE/RL 24 hours to remove content related to Navalny investigations from its two largest websites for Russian audiences – Radio Liberty and Current Time – as well as RFE/RL’s Russian-language sites for Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, and local sites for Russia’s Siberian, Volga-Ural, and Northwestern regions.

More than a dozen Russian publications, including the Newspaper Novaya Gazeta, as well as Dozhd television channel and Ekho Moskvy radio station, have received similar notices in recent days. Several decided to comply with the demands and removed the content. The move is the latest in a series of attacks against RFE/RL and other independent media and comes as RFE/RL has been extensively covering the unprecedented Russian military buildup for its audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, rebutting Kremlin disinformation and exposing malign Russian activities.

In the past year, Roskomnadzor has issued 1,040 violations against RFE/RL that will result in fines of more than $13.4 million for its refusal to submit to the unjust and invasive content labeling provisions of Russia’s “foreign agent” law. RFE/RL continues to fight these fines in Russian court and has also filed suit with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the law. In addition, 18 RFE/RL journalists have been designated as individual “foreign agents.”

On January 26, RFE/RL’s Russian Service was fined 3 million rubles ($39,000) for the alleged “public distribution of knowingly false information about the activities of the U.S.S.R. during World War II.” In fact, the existence of the published material is backed by documents from Russian archives – and RFE/RL is being held liable for actions that are not punishable under Russian law. RFE/RL is appealing the fine, not least to help defend Russia’s shrinking space for press freedom.

In a sign that the crackdown on press freedom may yet intensify, President Putin in late January issued an order calling for the creation of a new “register of toxic content.”

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.

RFE/RL condemns latest Kremlin threats as “political censorship” – USAGM

RFE/RL condemns latest Kremlin threats as “political censorship”

February 4, 2022

Washington, D.C. — Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) strongly condemns a sharp escalation of intimidation tactics by Russian authorities, which saw state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor overnight threaten to block eight RFE/RL websites serving audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia unless they pulled down articles tied to corruption investigations by jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team.

RFE/RL will not comply with these demands. Said President and CEO Jamie Fly, “RFE/RL will not allow the Kremlin to dictate our editorial decisions. This is a blatant act of political censorship by a government apparently threatened by journalists who are merely reporting the truth.”

Roskomnadzor sent more than 60 e-mail notifications giving RFE/RL 24 hours to remove content related to Navalny investigations from its two largest websites for Russian audiences – Radio Liberty and Current Time – as well as RFE/RL’s Russian-language sites for Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, and local sites for Russia’s Siberian, Volga-Ural, and Northwestern regions.

More than a dozen Russian publications, including the newspaper Novaya gazeta, as well as Dozhd television channel and Ekho Moskvy radio station, have received similar notices in recent days. Several decided to comply with the demands and removed the content. The move is the latest in a series of attacks against RFE/RL and other independent media and comes as RFE/RL has been extensively covering the unprecedented Russian military buildup for its audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, rebutting Kremlin disinformation and exposing malign Russian activities.

In the past year, Roskomnadzor has issued 1,040 violations against RFE/RL that will result in fines of more than $13.4 million for its refusal to submit to the unjust and invasive content labeling provisions of Russia’s “foreign agent” law. RFE/RL continues to fight these fines in Russian court and has also filed suit with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the law. In addition, 18 RFE/RL journalists have been designated as individual “foreign agents.”

On January 26, RFE/RL’s Russian Service was fined 3 million rubles ($39,000) for the alleged “public distribution of knowingly false information about the activities of the U.S.S.R. during World War II.” In fact, the existence of the published material is backed by documents from Russian archives – and RFE/RL is being held liable for actions that are not punishable under Russian law. RFE/RL is appealing the fine, not least to help defend Russia’s shrinking space for press freedom.

In a sign that the crackdown on press freedom may yet intensify, President Putin in late January issued an order calling for the creation of a new “register of toxic content.”

About RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.