In brief
RFE/RL broadcasts in Tatar, Bashkir, Chechen under threat
Trump administration plans to cut funds, close services
The proposal aims to reduce by 22% the budget of international broadcasts of several US services publicly funded. These include RFE/RL’s Radio Azatliq/Idel-Realii (which broadcasts in Tatar, Bashkir, and Russian) and Kavzak.Realii/Marsho Radio (in Chechen and Russian). The cuts will also result in the closure of services in Georgian, Macedonian, and Montenegrin.
RFE/RL’s Tatar, Bashkir, and Chechen services are virtually the only professional media that critically inform on Russia’s linguistic policies on a regular basis, sources familiar with the broadcasts tell Nationalia. The same sources add that the services offer qualified jobs for speakers of those minoritised languages.