RFE/RL faces threat of raids over refusal to pay fines for not attaching ‘foreign agent’ label to its content
In 1991, Boris Yeltsin gave Radio Liberty, the US government-funded broadcaster that had fought for decades to bypass Soviet jamming equipment, permission to open its own
Moscow bureau. Now, 30 years later, the
Kremlin looks close to shutting it down.
A deadline for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to pay the first of an estimated $2.4m (£1.7m) in fines will pass for the foreign broadcaster next week, threatening its bureau in
Russia with potential
police raids, blocked bank accounts, or the arrest of senior employees.