Eye on the East

The Russian Section directs its programs not only at listeners in Russia but also those in the territories that were part of the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, for example ) plus Russians living in Western Europe. Emphasis in the programming is given to topics and perspectives not found on Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian media, particularly human rights issues.

We give voice to representatives of the Russian opposition and human rights activists and share the Polish experience of building democracy.

The Belarusian Section of Polish Radio External Service is directed at listeners in Belarus wanting to know of events occurring in their western neighbor and those wanting reliable and uncensored news about their own country.

Concentrating on the development of citizenship and civil society and correcting misrepresentations of past, the Belarusian Section reports on major initiatives at state level, the most important being the EU's Eastern Partnership, which Poland has been a leading advocate of, to bring former Soviet states closer to western structures.

In order to further these goals, the Belarusian Section has established a partnership with www.belaruspartisan.org, one of the largest independent news sites reporting on Belarus.

This cooperation has resulted in an increase in the number of visitors to Polish Radio External Service web site and an increase in the number of listeners.

The aim of the Ukrainian Section is to create Ukrainian language programming promoting Polish-Ukrainian relations with particular emphasis on the economic interests of the country. The programmes discuss economic, business and social issues and political and cultural events. The programming shows changes taking place in Polish society, including the rise of a new middle class, and political and administrative reforms taking place in the country, as well as the advantages of Poland's membership of the EU and NATO. A special programme is devoted to a noticeable increase in the number of Ukrainian immigrants in Poland.

In 2014, we will be launching the novosti.pl round-the-clock news web site modeled on our English Section's thenews.pl.