Radio Liberty in Exile appears on the Internet

MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) – Journalists sacked from Radio Liberty have launched a news website of their own, Radio Liberty in Exile, at www.svobodanew.com.

The website has the news, politics, history and regions sections carrying exclusive materials as well as reprinted news and articles from other media outlets. The video, blogs and opinion sections feature journalists and public figures sharing their opinions about the recent changes on Radio Liberty. A few more sections – economics, society and law, and culture and sports – will be added soon.

Director of the Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty Russian office Yelena Glushkova has denied, in an interview with Interfax, that Radio Liberty has anything to do with the above website and is not responsible for its actions. “It’s their personal business and their personal responsibility. We have nothing to do with it,” she said.

On September 20, Radio Liberty sacked 34 staff members – journalists, editors, video engineers, cameramen and others – as part of the new administration’s reform strategy. Another eight employees submitted their resignations as a gesture of protest.

Later, Glushkova told Interfax that Radio Liberty’s Moscow bureau had completed the formation of a new team made up of journalists from other mass media. She refused to say how many new journalists had been hired or name the media outlets where they had previously worked.

On November 10, Radio Liberty stopped medium-wave broadcasting.