Stratfor, a subscription-based provider of geopolitical analysis, published a article on the Kremlin’s crackdown on independent media and political opposition in Russia, citing the silencing of Radio Liberty as one example.
Stratfor reports that opposition leader Vladimir Ryzhkov called the silencing of Radio Svoboda (Radio Liberty) a “blow to freedom of the media in Russia.”
The article includes a photo of a former Radio Liberty journalism intern Kirill Filimovov protesting in front of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow against the decision of the American management of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to fire over 30 journalists and Internet media professionals (eight more Radio Liberty journalists resigned in protest against the actions of RFE/RL American executives, which opposition and human rights leaders in Russia interpret as a the Obama administration’s gift to President Putin). RFE/RL executives report to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), a federal agency in charge of U.S. international broadcasting.
Read Stratfor analysis: Russia Returns to Stricter Control, Nov. 5, 2012.