Against cuts to BBC Russian Service and closure of the French Russian-language broadcaster RFI

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

Our campaign against the threat to the BBC Russian Service has met with some
degree of initial success.  The story is best summarized on the website of
Open Democracy.  This link, and the excellent letter from Irina Shumovitch,
is the best place to start:
http://tinyurl.com/62xed4

Also here:
http://tinyurl.com/5w93y9

            *

Today, however, I have learned that the French government too has decided to
put an end to its own Russian-language broadcasting.  RFI is to function
only through the Internet.

The organizers of a petition against this have pointed out that RFI have
listeners not only in Russia, but also in such countries as Belarus,
Azerbaidzhan and Uzbekistan where access to the internet is very restricted
indeed.

There is a danger of Russia becoming more intellectually isolated than ever.
Please sign this petition on behalf of RFI and do all you can to circulate
it!
<http://www.gopetition.com/online/23691.html>

Best Wishes,

Robert Chandler

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