President Donald Trump's decision to freeze the U.S. Agency for International Development's $40 billion budget is drawing praise from authoritarian leaders who have long sought to silence independent media in their countries.
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has been trying to kill independent media for God knows how many years now. Ironically the country that has this free speech is now about to give it the death blow,” Derk Sauer, founder of the online newspaper Moscow Times, told the Financial Times last week.
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The freeze halts $268 million allocated by Congress for “independent media and the free flow of information” globally, according to Reporters Without Borders. The impact spans from Eastern Europe to Latin America, with many independent outlets facing immediate funding crises, the Financial Times reported.
Russian officials celebrated the move. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian security council, praised the “smart move to plug USAID’s deep throat,” while Hungarian government officials called the freeze “refreshing,” according to the Financial Times..
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The cuts threaten critical investigative journalism networks. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, known for investigations like the Panama Papers, told the Financial Times it will lose over a quarter of its budget. “The short-term impact is really brutal. Like others, we are trying to find alternative sources of funding. Many will find it difficult to survive,” Paul Radu, OCCRP co-founder, told the newspaper.
In Belarus, at least six independent news outlets in exile reported complete funding cessation. Ukrainian media, heavily dependent on U.S. grants, face similar risks. Russia’s Meduza, a major independent outlet, called an emergency board meeting to discuss its future, the Financial Times reported.
Trump amplified conspiracy theories about the program on Truth Social, falsely claiming billions were “stollen” [sic] by mainstream media as “payoffs.” While the U.S. government purchases media subscriptions, it does not directly fund major Western news organizations.
For exiled journalists, the impact is immediate. In New York, Russian journalists studying on USAID grants expect to lose housing and living stipends next week. “First, you get expelled by Putin. Then this,” one journalist told the Financial Times, requesting anonymity due to ongoing funding negotiations.
A U.S. official suggested some funding might resume after the 90-day review, but media observers warn many outlets cannot survive the gap. “We’ve been told to stop working, we cannot spend any money, there is no cash coming in,” one Balkans-based official said to the Financial Times.
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