A RADIO FOR RUSSIANS?

Noting Moscow’s continuing complaints about the mistreatment of Russian speakers in non-Russian countries, a Lithuanian journalist has proposed something Moscow could do to improve their lot: establish a special radio station to beam them Russian-language programming. Poland does that for Polish speakers in Lithuania, Jonas Rimsca said in the April 6 Echo. Why not Russia? But such a step is unlikely given budgetary constraints: last week, Russian state television leaders told Izvestiya April 22 that they may have to cut back programming to only six hours a day over the summer. Russians in Estonia continue to press for the restoration of Moscow television broadcasts to that country. As Moskovskiy Komsomolets put it April 13, “Independence is independence, but even the Estonians are accustomed to receiving regularly their portion of news from the former oppressors.”

Belarus May Make Russian an Official Language.