Former Voice of America (VOA) Russian-Spanish freelance news reporter Pablo Rubtsov González was greeted in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin after exchange for American journalists imprisoned and held as hostages in Russia.
Had I stayed at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty #RFERL, I would have continued to work for the release of imprisoned reporters and warned others in no uncertain terms not to travel to Russia as long as Vladimir Putin or his allies are in power, I wrote my op-ed in The Washington Times about the Voice of America being blinded to Putin’s spying. Equally or even more blinded were longtime officials of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) who are responsible for the safety and security of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) journalists.
My concerns about the safety of RFE/RL staff in Russia were dismissed by some when I expressed them in 2020-2021 when I served briefly as RFE/EL President and wanted to evacuate Radio Liberty journalists from Russia to neighboring NATO countries. One close relative of an RFE/RL journalist later imprisoned as a hostage in Putin’s Russia called me “unvetted and untested.” Perhaps I could have prevented her travel to Russia which resulted in her arrest and suffering and worry for her and her family.
Even on the day Alexei Navalny was arrested in Moscow on his return from the West, one key manager refused to believe me that keeping journalists safe in Putin’s Russia was not possible. It was useless trying to explain it to someone who had never lived under communism or any other totalitarian or highly authoritarian regime.
Had I stayed longer, I would have also tried to get all of the RFE/RL staff from Afghanistan, which the current USAGM leadership left stranded in great danger when the Taliban captured Kabul. Seeing how his reporting endorsed Vladimir Putin’s empire-building, I would have also tried to prevent the Voice of America from hiring Russian-Spanish journalist Pablo Rubtsov González, an alleged Russian spy who was contracted as a freelance reporter by the Voice of America #VOA and other media outlets. Poland agreed to release him in exchange for American journalists, including an RFE/RL reporter imprisoned in Russia, and he was warmly welcomed at a Moscow airport on August 1 by Vladimir Putin. The Polish government could have tried to negotiate to release him in exchange for one of its citizens imprisoned in Russia or Belarus but decided to help its U.S. ally.
