On this day 85 years ago, on October 29, 1929, Radio Moscow, now known to the world as Radio VR, began its first international broadcast, transmitting in German. It would soon begin broadcasting in French and English as well. 

While Russia pulls its troops back from the Ukrainian border, a second instrument of Russian power remains firmly in place: a network of Kremlin-funded media outlets that is bringing news of the Ukraine crisis to millions of people worldwide. RT, a state-owned multilingual television network that’s Russia’s answer to CNN(TWX) and Al-Jazeera, made headlines earlier this year when one of its American anchors announced her resignation on the air, saying she did not want to work for a network that “whitewashes the actions” of President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dissolved one of the country's official news agencies and an international radio broadcaster on Monday, setting up a new organization to be run by a news anchor known for his ultraconservative views. RIA Novosti, the news agency, and Voice of Russia, the broadcaster, will be absorbed by a new entity, Russia Today.

Looking for an alternative perspective on world news on your FM dial? If you live in Chicago or Washington, DC you can now tune in the Russian government’s Voice of Russia service, which began broadcasting English language programming at the beginning of March on the HD2 channel of WTOP-FM in DC, a news-talk station, and WILV-FM in Chicago, which airs the adult hits format.

Voice of Russia, Russia’s state-funded radio station, is taking a new approach to informing Americans: using American and Russian voices to broadcast international news from American soil. For the first time since its beginnings in 1929, Voice of Russia will broadcast to Americans...

APDS Blogger: Kimberly DeGroff Madsen

...the event was organized around the launch of the U.S. studio of the Russian news service, 'The Voice of Russia.' Moreover, this distinguished group of experts gathered to discuss not how to block the Russian broadcast in the U.S. but rather to offer advice on how it might be more effective.

Voice of Russia is launching its broadcast in the United States, airing two daily shows from its brand new state-of-the-art studio in downtown Washington, steps away from the White House.“This is a very important step for our radio company,” - Voice of Russia’s head Andrey Bystritskiy says.