Georgian Bureau of BBC’s Russian-language Radio may be Closed

BBC’s Russian-language radio will suspend broadcasting from April, Russian Echo of Moscow radio says.

According to the radio, the motive for the suspension is financial problems. Namely, the British government cut the funding for the Russian radio.

Ii is unknown yet whether the Georgian bureau of the radio will continue functioning or not, Nina Akhmeteli, Georgian correspondent of the radio told InterpressNews.

The BBC World Service is to close five of its language services.

It is thought that about 650 jobs will be lost from a workforce of some 2,400. It is believed staff will be informed on Wednesday of the redundancies.

The Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services will be axed, as will English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa, in a bid to save £46m a year.

The BBC said it had to make savings after its government support was cut, but unions called the move "ferocious".

The service, which started broadcasting in 1932, currently costs £272m a year, and has an audience of 241 million worldwide across radio, television and online.