RFE/RL opening office in Vilnius

VILNIUS. Jan 10 (Interfax/BNS) - Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), designated in Russia as a foreign agent, is due to open its office in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday.

RFE/RL first announced plans to open its office in Lithuania in March 2022. Its target audience will be citizens of Russia and Belarus, the radio station said.

RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly, for his part, said that "our new Vilnius office [...] will allow [RFE/RL] to provide our audiences in Belarus with accurate and truthful news."

The Vilnius office will also be hosting journalists from Belarus who left the country after the 2020 presidential elections, which were not recognized by the West.

Belarus declared RFE/RL an "extremist organization" in December 2021.

RFE/RL is also expected to open its office in Riga, Latvia, later this week. The Riga office will act as a Russian-language media center.