This week, the Russian Service of Radio Liberty is holding events in Riga and Vilnius dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the editorial office. At meetings with readers and listeners in the capitals of the Baltic republics, where the American media corporation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty opened new offices in 2020-2023, Russian Service journalists present “live podcasts” dedicated to the history of the radio station and communicate with the audience.
As the first head of independent Lithuania, Vytautas Lanbsbergis, noted, speaking at a meeting in Vilnius, Radio Liberty played an outstanding role in resisting the Soviet political regime based on violations of human rights. “Svoboda is now playing the same role, countering the propaganda of Putin’s regime, which violates the norms of international law,” said the former chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania.
Moscow actor Alexander Filipenko, who lives in Vilnius, spoke about the contribution of Radio Liberty to the promotion of public values: “And half a century, and 40, and 30 years ago, as now, the first, most conscientious voices of national culture sounded and are heard on the air of “Svoboda.”
The first program of the Liberation radio station was broadcast from a studio in Munich on March 1, 1953. In 1959, the radio station changed its name. During the Cold War, Radio Liberty provided audiences in the USSR with facts about Soviet history and contemporary reality that were hidden from the public and not covered in the official media. The Soviet authorities stopped jamming the radio station’s waves in 1989. In 1991, the activities of Radio Liberty in Moscow were legalized.
During the years when Vladimir Putin was in power, the editorial board of the Russian Service faced gradually increasing problems. In 2017, Radio Liberty was included in the list of “foreign agents” by the Russian Ministry of Justice; in the spring of 2022, under pressure from the Russian authorities, the Moscow Bureau of Liberty was closed, and dozens of editorial staff were forced to leave Russia.
After the start of a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine and the introduction of military censorship in Russia, the websites of the Russian Service and its accounts on many social networks were blocked by Roskomnadzor. Nevertheless, 2022 became historically the most successful year in the history of the editorial office. Now the “Svoboda” community on its YouTube video hosting channels is almost 4.5 million people, the weekly audience of “Svoboda” exceeds 8 million people.
The Russian service of Radio Liberty, one of the leaders in the market of independent Russian media, is a modern journalistic organization that strictly adheres to high professional standards and works on many platforms. Three editorial websites – Svoboda.org, Sibreal.org, Sevreal.org – publish operational information, reports from the scene of events in Russia and abroad, analytical reviews, interviews with newsmakers and experts.
“Svoboda” still conducts 24-hour Internet and satellite radio broadcasts (you can also listen to us on medium waves), produces daily and weekly video programs, social and reporting videos, popular podcasts, and documentaries. We are active on accounts on all significant social networks.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is an independent American media corporation funded by a grant from Congress through the United States Agency for Global Media. Radio Liberty operates in 27 languages in 23 countries – mainly for audiences in countries where media freedom is limited. More than thirty employees of the Russian service of Radio Liberty are included by the Russian authorities in the lists of “foreign agents” as private individuals. Unfounded persecution of Svoboda and its journalists continues. Despite this, our correspondents still work in Russia.
