Tatar-Bashkir Service
RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service is the only major international news provider reporting in the Tatar, Bashkir, and Russian languages to audiences in Russia’s multi-ethnic, Muslim-majority Volga-Ural region.
Website visits
(January–December 2022)
Facebook video views
(January–December 2022)
YouTube video views
(January–December 2022)
Instagram video views
(January–December 2022)
About the Service
Despite censorship, Radio Azatliq is an entirely digital alternative to Russian state-controlled media, reporting in local languages and reaching audiences in the Volga-Ural region despite censorship since 1953.
Idel.Realii covers public corruption, religious extremism, and environmental issues.
Multimedia project “Eide!Online” teaches modern Tatar language online in response to increased Kremlin pressure to limit use of Tatar.
Produced a special visual project on Russian war casualties. Published a book “Saying No to War,” featuring 40 Russians telling stories of resistance amid harsh sentences.
Published investigative reports on “ethnic battalions” that the Russian regime formed to fight in Ukraine.
Monitors and maps rising Chinese influence with a microsite.
Four million people viewed the Service’s project about domestic violence and its effects.
Reaching Audiences
Media Climate
Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index ranks Russia 164th out of 180 countries.
Radio Azatliq journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been detained in Kazan, Russia, since October 18, 2023, while visiting her elderly, ailing mother.
Journalists frequently are subjected to harassment and threats; many freelancers are forced to leave the country for their safety.
Multiple contributors have been labeled as foreign agents. Police in Kazan, Russia searched homes of several freelancers and briefly detained them in August 2022.
Websites and social media accounts have been blocked or restricted.
Latest Updates
Central Asia in Focus: The Kazakh Venue for Peace Talks
In this week’s edition: Almaty will host upcoming talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both planning to build nuclear power plants, and more.
British Foreign Secretary Cameron Visits Central Asia
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron just completed an official trip to all five Central Asian states.
Central Asia in Focus: Kazakhstan’s Lower House Passes Controversial Draft Media Law
In this week’s edition: Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament passed a controversial draft media law, massive dust storms are hitting Central Asia, and more.
Service Director
Rim Gilfanov
Rim Gilfanov is the Service Director of RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, known locally as Radio Azatliq. He began reporting for the Service in 1990 as a stringer and later as a broadcaster covering ethnic and religious minority issues. Gilfanov previously wrote for the Kazan newspaper Donya, and has published several books, including “Tatar Diaspora” (Kazan, 1993) and “Tatar Way in Reforming Islam” (Prague, April 2003). He is frequently interviewed by local Tatar media outlets. Gilfanov graduated from Kazan State University in 1991 with a degree in sociology and political science.
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