Radio «Echo of the Caucasus» — a project of Radio Liberty, broadcasting in Russian on the territory of Georgia and partially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia — announced the cessation of broadcasting due to recognition as an «undesirable organization» in Russia. At the same time, their website will continue to operate.
“We cannot risk our correspondents and experts with Russian citizenship on live radio,” the editorial office said in a statement. “The lack of live speech on air, the inability to record interviews with politicians, experts, ordinary people from Abkhazia and South Ossetia makes the radio format currently impractical.”
Radio Liberty has launched broadcasting in Russian in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the fall of 2009. In 2020, the Ministry of Justice included the projects of the American media corporation in Russia in the register of “foreign agents”; since then, due to the lack of labeling, they have been fined almost a billion rubles. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the websites of all corporation projects in Russian were blocked in Russia.
Radio Liberty was added to the list of “undesirable” organizations in February 2024. This status leads to the blocking of their bank accounts in Russia and threatens them with administrative or criminal prosecution for participation in the work of the corporation. For reposting Radio Liberty publications, the court may impose a fine on a person.