Text of report by Russian Mayak radio on 7 July:
The US media are saying that Russia has banned dozens of local radio stations from rebroadcasting the news bulletins of Voice of America and Radio Liberty, writes the Washington Post.
Russian officials say the ban is explained by numerous violations of broadcasting regulations. The radios’ staff believe it is a punishment for touching on topics that are not convenient to the Kremlin.
Sergey Gololobov reports:
[Correspondent] We’re talking about a ban on retransmitting Voice of America and Radio Liberty in a number of Russian regions. The US-funded stations are operating without restriction in Moscow and St Petersburg.
Officially the ban is the result of a huge number of licence agreement violations by Russian regional radio broadcasters. Spokesman for Rosokhrankultura (the Federal Service for Supervision of Compliance with the Law in the Sphere of Mass Communications and Preservation of the Cultural Heritage) Yevgeniy Strelchak [as heard; elsewhere heard as Strelchik, neither traced] said we have no problem with Radio Liberty or Voice of America themselves but our Russian radio operators cannot rebroadcast someone else’s output without obtaining a licence to do so. That’s the law. And for the most part these licences were not obtained, Mr Strelchak said.
In the Washington Post, the managers of Voice of America and Radio Liberty naturally express the view that the rebroadcasting ban is the latest restriction on media freedom in Russia. Even so, the managers of the two stations are hoping to reach a compromise on the issue with the Russian authorities.
[Ekho Mosvky radio, Moscow, in Russian 0700 gmt 7 Jul 06 said that more than 60 radio stations were affected by the ban.]
(Source: Radio Mayak, Moscow, in Russian 1100 gmt 7 Jul 06 via BBC Monitoring/R. Netherlands-Media Network Weblog)