{"id":10291,"date":"2014-07-16T17:45:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T21:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=10291"},"modified":"2014-07-16T17:45:38","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T21:45:38","slug":"voice-of-russia-closes-dc-bureau-fires-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/voice-of-russia-closes-dc-bureau-fires-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice of Russia closes DC bureau, fires staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Voice-of-Russia-Logo\"<\/a>(Source: VOA News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Facing legal problems, the Russian government-funded radio network \u2014 the Voice of Russia \u2014 has fired its Washington bureau staff and closed the office.<\/p>\n

The shutdown happened Monday, amid allegations of tax fraud and claims of racial discrimination at the network.<\/p>\n

Alexei Iazlovsky, the head of the VOR’s U.S. operations, pleaded guilty last year to tax fraud and will be sentenced later this year.<\/p>\n

VOR’s employment practices also have attracted attention from the IRS and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.<\/p>\n

The IRS is investigating whether VOR used contractors alongside full-time, salaried employees to skirt payroll taxes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took an interest in VOR after several former staffers claimed they were fired because of their race.<\/p>\n

The employees have filed a lawsuit against International TV Services, VOR\u2019s contract manager in the United States.<\/p>\n

Some suspect Voice of Russia will quickly return to the U.S. through a different management company without the legal troubles.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Russians stopped Voice of America broadcasting in Moscow on AM radio.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: VOA News) Facing legal problems, the Russian government-funded radio network \u2014 the Voice of Russia \u2014 has fired its Washington bureau staff and closed the office. The shutdown happened Monday, amid allegations of tax fraud and claims of racial discrimination at the network. Alexei Iazlovsky, the head of the VOR’s U.S. operations, pleaded guilty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,3],"tags":[4097,408,3118,409],"class_list":["post-10291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-news","tag-am","tag-voice-of-russia","tag-voice-of-russia-dc","tag-vor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-2FZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7129,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/no-news-is-no-news-a-response-from-the-voice-of-russia\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":0},"title":"No news is no news: a response from the Voice of Russia","author":"Thomas","date":"August 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote the Voice of Russia following the suggestion that their broadcasting on shortwave radio\u00a0may soon end. A response has now arrived from the Letters Department of the VOR's World Service. \u00a0And the current word? \u00a0Very similar to that of my previous post, though VOR confesses that the topic is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Moscow_Kremlin-300x196.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1262,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/cnn-reports-on-new-voice-of-russia-studios-in-dc\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":1},"title":"CNN reports on new Voice of Russia studios in DC","author":"Thomas","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Many long-time shortwave listeners may find it ironic that the likes of Voice of Russia now broadcasts from a studio in downtown Washington DC. I just read this news article posted on CNN about VOR's new presence: Jordan Hostetter doesn't know it, but he's a target. He's a young professional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/voice_of_russia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8397,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/voice-of-russia-to-remain-on-the-air-in-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":2},"title":"Voice of Russia to remain on the air in 2014","author":"Thomas","date":"December 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This year has been a confusing one for Voice of Russia listeners. \u00a0At least two separate news sources--in August and December--announced that VOR would be leaving the shortwaves effective Jan 1, 2014, but\u00a0VOR couldn't confirmed or denied the news. Then, only two weeks ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RIA Novosti Newsroom, Moscow (Source: Wikipedia)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/800px-Newsroom_RIA_Novosti_Moscow_2-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8219,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/putin-liquidates-the-voice-of-russia-absorbed-by-rossia-segodnya-newswire\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":3},"title":"Putin liquidates the Voice of Russia, absorbed by Rossia Segodnya newswire","author":"Thomas","date":"December 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Looks like the Voice of Russia will be a part of an extensive reorganization within the network of Russian state-run news agencies. No mention of shortwave service, other than previous articles we've posted. I can't help but believe Dec 31st 2013 might be VOR's last day on the shortwaves. Read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RUVR-VOR-VoiceOfRussia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/RUVR-VOR-VoiceOfRussia-300x174.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8246,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/voice-of-russia-news-lacks-any-mention-of-sweeping-changes-to-state-news-agency\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":4},"title":"Voice of Russia broadcasts lack any mention of sweeping changes to state news agency","author":"Thomas","date":"December 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I tuned to the Voice of Russia (a.k.a. Radio VR) English language service to hear the state news agency's take on the sweeping changes President Vladimir Putin implemented yesterday. I expected the story to be somewhat buried amongst international headlines, but instead I heard no mention within the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"President Vladimir Putin (Source: Wikimedia Commons)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/320px-Vladimir_Putin-6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8550,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/russia-ends-long-wave-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":10291,"position":5},"title":"Russia “quietly” ends longwave services","author":"Thomas","date":"January 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The BBC reports that Russia has \"quietly switched off nearly all of its long-wave transmitters, ending almost nine decades of broadcasting - as cost finally catches up on the medium.\" Read the full story on the\u00a0BBC News. Not a huge surprise as many countries are pulling the plug on longwave,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zenith Transoceanic tuned to shortwave","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo-2-1-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}