MONDAY, MARCH 7 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
war in ukraineBY BRYAN PIETSCHRadio Free Europe/Radio Lib-
erty, the network that broadcast
uncensored news across the Iron
Curtain in Cold War-era Europe,
said Saturday it will shutter its
operations in Russia, citing
mounting fines over its refusal to
be identified as a “foreign agent”
and a new law stifling freedom of
the press.
“This is not a decision that
RFE/RL has taken of its own
accord, but one that has been
forced upon us by the Putin re-
gime’s a ssault on the truth,” Jamie
Fly, the network’s president and
chief executive, said in a state-
ment. “Following years of threats,
intimidation and harassment of
our journalists, the Kremlin, des-
perate to prevent Russian citizens
from knowing the truth about its
illegal war in Ukraine, is now
branding honest journalists as
traitors to the Russian state.”
RFE said that on Friday, the tax
authorities in Russia started
bankruptcy proceedings against
its operations there, stemming
from more than $13.4 million in
fines for 1,040 violations of Rus-
sia’s “unlawful demand” thatRFE’s content be labeled as pro-
duced by a “foreign agent.”
RFE added that 18 of its jour-
nalists also had been designated
“foreign agents.” Nine of its Rus-
sian-language websites were
blocked in the past week, it said,
over its refusal to delete informa-
tion about the invasion of
Ukraine.
A law signed by Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin on Friday
that threatened 15 years in prison
for, as RFE said, “any journalist
who deviates from the Kremlin’s
talking points on the Ukraine
war” played a role in its decisionto shut down its Russian opera-
tions. The law bans the use of the
term “invasion” to describe Rus-
sia’s violent attack on Ukraine,
instead encouraging the phrase
“special military operation,” as
Putin has described the war.
Amid the concerns over shrink-
ing press freedoms — which were
already among the worst in the
world, with Russia ranking 150 th
out of 180 nations on the World
Press Freedom Index compiled by
the nonprofit Reporters Without
Borders — other Russian and
Western news organizations have
shut down or curtailed their oper-ations in the country in recent
days. Some Russian journalists
are fleeing the country.
RFE said it would continue
reporting on Russia and its war,
but from outside the country. On
Saturday, it posted tips for Rus-
sians to access its blocked con-
tent, pointing them to virtual
private networks, or VPNs, which
allow people to make it appear as
if they’re logging on from a differ-
ent country. It also referred Rus-
sians to its Telegram channel and
Tor, an anonymous browser.
RFE, which provides news pro-
gramming online and throughradio and television broadcasts,
started as a radio network found-
ed at the beginning of the Cold
War “to transmit uncensored
news and information to audienc-
es behind the Iron Curtain.” It is a
nonprofit organization funded by
the U.S. Agency for Global Media,
alongside networks such as Voice
of America, though it remains
editorially independent from the
government.
RFE’s website says it “played a
significant role in the collapse of
communism and the rise of de-
mocracies in post-communist Eu-
rope.”Radio Free Europe: ‘Forced’ to halt Russia operations amid Putin c rackdown
BY MISSY RYANtallinn, estonia — T he United
States is exploring how it might
help Ukraine obtain fighter jets
from NATO nations, Secretary of
State Antony Blinken said on
Sunday, suggesting a step-up in
Western military aid as Kyiv at-
tempts to hold off a deepening
Russian assault.
“We are looking actively now at
the question of airplanes that
Poland may provide to Ukraine
and looking at how we might be
able to backfill should Poland
choose to supply those planes,” he
told reporters during a visit to
Chisinau, Moldova.
“I can’t speak to the timeline,
but I can just tell you that we’re
looking at it very, very actively,”
he said.
Blinken’s remarks are sure to
be welcomed in Kyiv, where
Ukrainian leaders have been ap-
pealing to Europe and the United
States to supply them with addi-
tional military equipment as ci-
vilian deaths mount and Russian
forces push closer to major cities.
Ukrainian President Volod-
ymyr Zelensky on Saturday made
an urgent appeal to U.S. lawmak-
ers to help his country get addi-
tional air power.
Kyiv has also called for NATO
establish a no-fly zone over
Ukraine, a move that alliance
officials have ruled out because
they say it would probably plunge
NATO into a war with Russia.
Blinken, who is visiting Euro-
pean countries as he seeks to
signal Western unity in the face of
Russian President Vladimir Pu-
tin’s invasion, said this week that
the Biden administration would
not support a no-fly zone. But
until Sunday he had not spoken
of a potential American effort to
help Ukraine get European com-
bat planes.
The fate of a potential transfer,
most likely by Eastern European
countries whose jets would be
more compatible with Ukraine’s
military, had been unclear in the
days after it was first raised by
European Union foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell last week.
While Eastern European na-
tions have pushed for strength-
ened defense against Russia, they
also have concerns that supplying
Ukraine with combat aircraft
could prompt the Kremlin to
retaliate against them. Both Pol-
ish and NATO leaders subse-
quently suggested the transfer
would not occur.
Speaking to CNN from Moldo-
va, Blinken said it would be up to
the Polish government whether
to send any of its MiGs or other
Russian-made aircraft toUkraine. “If they choose to do it,
we want to make sure that we can
help them and, again, backfill
what they’re giving so that they
don’t have any loss in their own
ability to provide security,” he
said.
Moscow on Sunday warned
that any country that permittedUkrainian jets to use their terri-
tory as a launchpad would be
regarded as a party to the con-
flict.
Defense Ministry spokesman
Igor Konashenkov said that “the
use of the network of airfields of
those countries for the stationing
of Ukrainian combat aviation forthe further use against the Rus-
sian armed forces could be
viewed as the involvement of
those countries” in the conflict.
Blinken said the United States
would consider whether it could
supply jets to other NATO nations
that donate planes to Ukraine on
a case-by-case basis.“For everything we’re doing for
Ukraine, the president also has a
responsibility to not get us into a
direct conflict, a direct war, with
Russia, a nuclear power, and risk
a war that expands even beyond
Ukraine to Europe,” he said of
President Biden. “What we’re try-
ing to do is end this war in
Ukraine, not start a larger one.”
During his stop in Moldova,
Blinken thanked leaders in
Chisinau for welcoming more
than 250,000 refugees fleeing
Ukraine, a major challenge for a
country with a population below
3 million. The visit differed from
others on Blinken’s tour in that
Moldova, like Ukraine, is not a
NATO member, and thus does not
have that protection.
Like Ukraine, Moldova, whose
neutrality is stipulated in its con-
stitution, is seeking membership
in the European Union.
An estimated 1,500 Russian
troops are stationed in Transnis-
tria, a pro-Russian breakaway
region of Moldova.
Speaking alongside Blinken,
Moldovan President Maia Sandu
described the Russian troop pres-
ence in Transnistria as a “vulner-
ability.” She said the government
had not detected anything that
suggested the Russian troops in
the region would be taking part
in the Ukraine conflict.U.S. is ‘looking actively’ at helping Kyiv obtain fighter jets, Blinken says
OLIVIER DOULIERY/POOL/REUTERS
Secretary of State Antony Blinken appears at a news conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu
in Chisinau. Blinken thanked Moldova for welcoming more than 250,000 refugees from Ukraine.Listen wherever podcasts are available.@POSTLIVE #POSTLIVEMaria Ressa, Co-Founder, RapplerNobel Peace Prize WinnerTuesday, March 8 at 11:00 a.m.The Nobel Peace Prize winner talks about the stateof democracy, press freedom and the threat of whatshe calls “gendered disinformation.”To register to watch, visit:
wapo.st/ressamarch2022 or scan
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