Photo: RFE/RL
Following a court ruling, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has rescinded its decision to cancel the grant funding international news broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), according to a letter shared by lawyer Igor Slabykh on Telegram on Thursday.
The letter, which was written on Wednesday and signed by Kari Lake, the senior adviser to the acting CEO of USAGM, informed RFE/RL CEO Steve Capus that the termination of the grant agreement had been rescinded, though Lake added that the recission was “without prejudice to USAGM’s authority to terminate the grant at a later date”.
On 15 March, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring seven federal agencies to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law” as part of a government-wide attempt to slash federal spending.
USAGM notified RFE/RL that same day that the federal grant which supported their work was no longer valid. Within days, RFE/RL had filed a lawsuit against the agency and was granted a temporary restraining order over the termination of its funding on Tuesday.
RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organisation whose radio, internet, television and mobile programmes reach a weekly audience of nearly 50 million people in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine and the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. According to a USAGM report, RFE/RL received a grant of $153 million (€139 million) to fund its activities in 2025.
