| To: Thomas Dine
President
Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty
June 6, 2003
Dear Mr Dine,
Thank you for the invitation to participate in the 50th anniversary conference "About Liberty" conducted by the RFE/RL. Unfortunately, at the moment I am unable to leave Moscow owing to developments here
I would like to take this opportunity to stress once again that RFE/RL in its current form adds considerable value to political life in Russia. The RFE/RL played an exceptional role in the period leading up to 1991 that everybody has recognized. However, few understand the role it has played over the past 12 years. It would not be an overstatement to say that RFE/RL is the most reliable source of objective political information about world events and, even more importantly, Russian politics. Without RFE/RL, some of these topics would not have been covered at all.
The intellectual political programmes of RFE/RL are marked by their professional and objective approach, which is widely recognised as a hallmark of Western journalism.
The directors of The Russian Service of RFE/RL, Juri Gendler and Mario Corti have managed to understand the essence of modern Russia's political life and occupy a unique information niche, whose importance shall be highly valued in future. The preservation and development of this experience, which is new and unique to Russia, in the modern intellectual political journalism that emerged over the past decade, will undoubtedly be much needed and reclaimed in the coming years.
Let me thank you again for your invitation and assure you that I am always glad to see you in Moscow, Prague or Washington.
Yours sincerely,
Grigory Yavlinsky
See also:
Freedom of Speech and Media Law in Russia
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