FW: Russian Service

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

What the BBC have done to the Russian Service is appalling. Donald Rayfield
has summed up the facts, and their implications, with his usual clarity.  If
any of you have any contacts in the British or American press, please do all
you can to publicize this!

Best Wishes,

Robert

                    *

------ Forwarded Message
From: Donald Rayfield <donald_rayfield at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Russian Service

Dear Sir,

The BBC World Service has announced internally that its Russian service
broadcasts are being cut by 22 hours a week and will now drop all analytical
and cultural broadcasts. At a time when in Russia misunderstanding and
mistrust of Britain has reached a height  unprecedented since the end of the
USSR this decision seems a perverse, even demented concession to those
authorities in Russia that have been doing their best to curtail the
activities of all British cultural institutions (the BBC and the British
Council in particular). The BBC World Service should be held to account by
the press for its inexplicable actions - and everyone who realises that BBC
World Service broadcasts are the best ambassadors we have for this country
should make their views known.

Yours sincerely,

Donald Rayfield,
Emeritus Professor of Russiana nd Georgian,
Queen Mary University of London,
London E1 4NS

tel. 01959 526894


------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------