Radio Swoboda has been operating since 1950. His Russian service began broadcasting in east and South-East Europe on 1 March 1953. Russian-language broadcasts have been broadcast so far in the evening and night at partner radio stations. The seat of Radio Free Europe / Radio Swoboda is in Prague.
March 14 president of the United States Donald Trump signed an executive regulation on the restructuring of 7 national agencies, including the Global Media Agency (USAGM). Following this, Radio Free Europe / Radio Swoboda received an authoritative notification of the completion of the national grant.
A message issued on behalf of Kari Lake, an advisor and de facto head of the agency, appeared on the USAGM website. It stated that the decision to halt financing was a advice from the Trump administration that it was an inefficient usage of US taxpayers' funds. According to the USA present estimates This decision could affect around 3.5 000 media companies worldwide.
At the end of March, it turned out that the USAGM withdrew its decision to halt financing Radio Swoboda. Shortly after that, however, the agency cancelled its contracts with 2 satellite operators Astra and Eutelsat. Through them, 24-hour broadcasting of the Russian-language Current Time tv channel belonging to the media holding company Radio Free Europe / Radio Swoboda was conducted.
