Dear Mr. Klose

Please accept my sincere congratulations on the upcoming 60^th anniversary of Radio Liberty’s Russian service. 

From my own experience I can confirm that, for decades, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been an invaluable source of information and hope for the people of the former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and other communist countries. Always a reliable provider of unbiased, uncensored and balanced news and profound analyses of domestic and international issues, as well as a platform for free and open discussion - Radio Liberty has been everything that totalitarian media are not.  

Even today, when the Soviet Union has ceased to exist, I believe that Radio Liberty’s mission remains highly relevant. Its free and independent broadcasting is losing none of its importance in today’s Russia. Though no longer the “Western source of information”, it is recognized as an excellent and highly professional news service committed to fair and balanced journalism, focusing on the essential issues of human rights that other Russian media tend (maybe sometimes deliberately) to neglect.

The Czech Republic is proud to be Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s partner in promoting human rights and democracy worldwide. We therefore consider it essential that it should carry on its mission, and it is our sincere hope that it will continue to operate successfully. I would like to assure you of our full support and of our readiness to actively assist you in your mission.  

Dear Mr. Klose,

Let me conclude this letter on a personal note. I have learnt with regret that Czech Radio 6 is to end its broadcasting on 28 February 2013. I have been its regular listener ever since the original Radio Free Europe service was integrated into the Czech Radio in 2002. I am convinced that Czech Radio 6 managed to preserve the best of Radio Free Europe’s traditions. In Czech Radio 6, I am losing an important and interesting source of information, and I can only hope that there will be some other radio station to keep alive your ideas and to carry on your tradition of excellence. I also wish that Czech will never again have to become one of the broadcasting languages of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 

Please accept my wishes of much success in your work and my congratulations to you and your colleagues.

Yours sincerely

Karel Schwarzenberg
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic