DUSHANBE, December 16, 2015, Asia-Plus — The plan for Russia’s state media to advance its narrative across friendly former Soviet nations in Central Asia has run into trouble in Tajikistan,
EurasiaNet.org
reported on December 15.
It, in particular, says that according to a December 15 report by
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service
,
Radio Ozodi
,
Rossiya Segodnya
, the holding company that controls
Sputnik
news agency, has let go several of its Dushanbe staff.
Ozodi
reportedly speculates that economic troubles in Russia may be to blame, but there is a strong indication there is more at play.
Although the governments of Russia and Tajikistan are close partners,
Rossiya Segodnya
has failed for unknown reasons to obtain registration in Tajikistan.
The head of
Rossiya Segodnya’s
Dushanbe office, Dmitry Pisarenko, was last month recalled to Moscow, reportedly for his failure to obtain authorization during his year in post.
Ozodi
reports that 10 out of the 15 people that worked in
Sputnik’s
Dushanbe bureau are to be let go before the end of the year.
The
Rossiya Segodnya
media holding — not to be confused with the unrelated, but also state-run television station RT, formerly
Russia Today
— was created in December 2013 to replace
RIA-Novosti
news agency.
RIA-Novosti
still operates in greatly reduced form as part of Rossiya Segodnya.
The goal set for
Rossiya Segodnya
, whose head is television news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, was to represent Russia’s political stance and values across the world.
Tajikistan was in the early days seen as a promising jumping board for the operation, but progress was hindered by the government’s unwillingness to issue a license, according to EurasiaNet.org.
Some of the ground in Tajikistan have reportedly linked that omission to possible behind-the-scene negotiations between Moscow and Dushanbe over economic concessions. Although ostensibly allies, the two countries have indulged in protracted haggling over issues like the terms of the Russian military base’s presence in Tajikistan.
And while Russia looks set to scale back operations in this corner of Central Asia, Washington’s efforts to advance its own message in the region is getting additional funding, according to
EurasiaNet.org
.
