The Voice of Russia, the Russian government’s international radio broadcasting service, is looking into securing a broadcast license in Helsinki. However there are no free radio long-term FM broadcasting frequencies available and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja says he’s not open to granting a license to a foreign state body. Apart from Helsinki the Voice of Russia would like to set up shop in several other western countries.
The Russian state-owned international radio broadcasting service has big plans to expand the global reach of its news and radio operations. According to information obtained by Yle, the broadcaster’s initial international targets are Washington, London, Berlin and Helsinki.
Operations in Washington and London would be largest, but investments in operations in Helsinki would also be considerable. According to Yle’s information the goal would be to hire some 25 employees including journalists and other employees in Finland to produce Finnish language news from the Kremlin’s perspective.
Currently Russian government radio broadcasts targeting international audiences operate under the Voice of Russia brand. In December last year the Voice of Russia was merged with RIA Novosti to form the state-owned news agency Russia Today, which is financed by the government. No decision has yet been made on the name of the organisation planned for Finland.
Because Russia Today has been used to promote the views of the Russian leadership on issues such as the situation in Ukraine, it’s considered in the West to be a propaganda vehicle for the Kremlin. (more)
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Source: YLE