Sir, The BBC World Service has announced that its Russian service broadcasts are being cut by 19 hours a week and that it will now drop all analytical and cultural features. A previous unfortunate decision, taken five years ago, was to reduce the hours of short-wave broadcasting, relying on the Russians themselves to rebroadcast BBC programmes on FM frequencies. The Russian service thus became largely dependent on the Russian authorities — whose co-operation, of course, can no longer be counted on. That decision seems to have been taken merely because short wave is considered old-fashioned, even though it is the only reliable means of signal delivery to the whole of Russia.

At a time when in Russia misunderstanding and mistrust of Britain has reached a height unprecedented since the end of the USSR this deliberate reduction in the role of the Russian service seems a perverse concession to those authorities in Russia who have been doing their best to curtail the activities of all British cultural institutions (the BBC and the British Council in particular). The Russian service had a fine record of producing long format features of unique depth and diversity of opinion on matters of serious political and cultural concern. Expansion of internet services is no compensation for the loss of these features. The BBC World Service should be held to account by the press for its inexplicable actions — and everyone who realises that BBC World Service broadcasts are the best ambassadors we have for this country should make their views known.

Antony Beevor

Orlando Figes

Michael Frayn

Doris Lessing

David Manning, Former UK Ambassador to USA

Lucy Popescu, Director of English PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee

Simon Sebag-Montefiore

Tom Stoppard

D. M. Thomas

Andrew Wood, British Ambassador to Moscow (1995-2000)

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