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“This decision risks benefiting our common adversaries,” the EU executive added.
“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” VOA’s director Michael Abramowitz said on Saturday, announcing that more than 1,300 VOA journalists and employees, including himself, have been placed on administrative leave.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order to reduce to the minimum the functions of several agencies, including the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM,) which oversees media including VOA, RFE/RL, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
“The cancellation of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty grant agreement will be a huge gift to America’s enemies,” RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said on Saturday.
“The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker,” Capus said.
VOA and RFE/RL are designated as undesirable foreign organizations by Russia.
