Moscow Radio stops airing BBC Russian programmes

Our Corporate Bureau
18 August 2007

Mumbai: Russia's strained relations with Britain over the Litvinenko affair deteriorated further with Moscow's FM radio station, Bolshoye Radio, taking BBC Russian programmes off the air from the afternoon on 17 August.

Bolshoye Radio said BBC World Service is being removed from FM radio in Russia at the request of the Russian authorities.

Russian licensing authorities have ordered the station to remove BBC programming by 5pm Moscow time on 17 August or risk being taken off air, it said.

BBC Russian Service broadcasts were jammed by the Soviet Union for being "foreign propaganda."

The authorities claim the station's licence requires all programming to be produced by Bolshoye Radio itself. BBC, however, said the station is allowed to broadcast foreign produced content.