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The BBC World Service has been banned from broadcasting on Russian FM radio in what is seen as the latest diplomatic swipe at the UK.The state licensing authorities ordered Bolshoye radio in Moscow to remove all BBC programming by 5pm tonight or face being taken off air.They claimed the station’s licence only allowed programmes to be produced by the radio station itself.But in the UK, it was interpreted as yet another breakdown in the increasingly frosty relationship between the two countries.The Foreign Office immediately called for the service to be re-instated while a defiant BBC said it would appeal the decision.Richard Sambrook, director of BBC Global News, said the Corporation was “extremely disappointed” that listeners would not be able to hear its “impartial and independent news and information programming”.“The BBC has invested a great deal of energy and resources into developing high quality programming for the station,” he said.“The BBC entered into the relationship with Bolshoye Radio in good faith, and the licence was won in a competitive tender in February 2006.“We cannot understand how the licence is now interpreted in a way that does not reflect the original and thorough concept documents.”Mr Sambrook said the BBC would appeal to Russia’s Federal Service for the Supervision of Mass Media, Communication and Protection of Culture Heritage.“We will ask for the decision to be reviewed and for the original concept of the station to be respected,” he added.The concept documents state 60pc of output must be original material from Bolshoye Radio and 18pc foreign content, the BBC claimed.A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We support the role of the BBC World service, it is a source of independent news, often in parts of the world where such independence is far from the norm.“It is important that the BBC World Service is able to continue to broadcast in Russia.”But Bolshoye Radio’s owners, financial group Finam, said the BBC’s output was “foreign propaganda”.Spokesman Igor Ermachenkov insisted management had taken the decision to remove BBC programming without outside interference.“It’s no secret the BBC was established as a broadcaster of foreign propaganda,” he said.The Russian Service has been broadcasting current affairs news programmes in Russian as part of the commercial Bolshoye station since May.It aired for six hours a day, from 7-10am and 5-8pm, and covered news events around the world.Included in its coverage was the diplomatic row sparked by the murder of ex KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.He died on November 23 last year from polonium poisoning, allegedly administered in a cup of tea at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square.The Russian authorities refused a request to extradite prime suspect Andrei Lugovoy to the UK, leading to a meltdown in relations.In July, Britain expelled four diplomats from the Russian embassy in London, prompting Russia to retaliate by ejecting the same number from the British embassy in Moscow a few days later. Russia also announced it would cease cooperation on counter-terrorism.The BBC said 730,000 people listened to the Russian Service in Russia, with around 93,000 listening via FM. Approximately 20,000 of those were dedicated FM listeners.The Russian Service is still available on mediumwave frequencies, via satellite and online.Bolshoye Radio was the BBC’s last FM distribution partner station in the country after two other FM stations - Radio Arsenal in Moscow and Radio Leningrad in St Petersburg - stopped taking programmes in the last nine months.Critics have accused President Vladimir Putin’s government of stifling media freedom as part of a broader effort to increase the Kremlin’s control over Russian politics.Russian authorities last year dramatically curtailed the number of stations broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programmes.
As in the days of Noah...
