[A-List] US imperialism: Ukraine

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Ukraine criticised for dropping US-funded station
By Tom Warner in Kiev
Financial Times: February 13 2004

Ukraine was yesterday criticised by the US for dropping broadcasts of Radio
Liberty, a US-funded station that produces news in the Ukrainian language.

Dovira, a Kiev-based radio station, said its decision to pull Radio
Liberty's news from the beginning of next week was aimed at improving the
station's ratings.

But the US embassy said it was "part of a deplorable trend to limit
independent information" and came after years of pressure on Dovira's former
management, which sold the station last month.

Thomas Dine, Washington-based president of Radio Liberty and its sister
station Radio Free Europe, called the move "a political act against liberal
democracy".

However, Sergei Kychygin, Dovira's director, said Radio Liberty's programmes
were putting off younger listeners and clashed with Dovira's pop music
format.

The company that bought Dovira, Ukrainian Media Holding, also publishes the
newspaper titled 2000, which has been critical of US policy toward Ukraine
and strongly supportive of President Leonid Kuchma.

Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe were created after the second world war
to broadcast news from a western perspective to the communist bloc
countries.
After the end of the cold war, private Ukrainian radio stations began
broadcasting Radio Liberty's Ukrainian-language programmes.

The ownership change at Radio Dovira is the latest episode in a long saga of
media buy-outs by businessmen friendly to Mr Kuchma.

Last year the president's son-in-law bought two Ukrainian national
television channels from Russia's Lukoil and Alfa group.

Pressure on the remaining independent media has intensified as Mr Kuchma has
sought to push constitutional changes through parliament that would shift
power to the prime minister before a presidential election scheduled in
October. Mr Kuchma's opponents are likely to win the election, but his
allies have control of the prime minister's office.

Radio Rocks, which carries live broadcasts of parliament, was taken off the
air last month. Radio Continent, which carries BBC news in Ukrainian, has
fought a long legal battle with the authorities over its licence, but
remains on the air.