BBC's FM broadcasts off air in Russia

British Broadcasting Corp. said Friday that its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which called the programs "foreign propaganda."

The decision by Bolshoye Radio _ and similar moves by two other radio stations in the past year _ leaves the BBC's Russian-language services available only on medium- and short-wave broadcasts, the BBC said.

Bolshoye Radio's parent company, financial group Finam, said that its license did not allow it to retransmit BBC's programs and that the station will instead focus on originally produced material.

"It's no secret that the BBC was established as a broadcaster of foreign propaganda," company spokesman Igor Ermachenkov told The Associated Press.

Ermachenkov said management made the decision without outside interference. However, the move comes amid criticism that President Vladimir Putin's government has stifled media freedoms as part of an effort to increase Kremlin control over Russian political life. It also comes as British-Russian relations have soured, in part over the poisoning death of a former KGB agent.

As Russia heads into parliamentary elections in December and a presidential election in March, observers say government influence over news media appears to be at its strongest since the end of the Soviet era.

Several foreign language broadcasters have seen their programming curtailed or pulled off the air in Russia in recent years. Last year, Russian authorities dramatically curtailed the number of stations broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America news programs.

The BBC said the licensing documents it received in May 2006 allowed almost one-fifth of Bolshoye Radio's content to be produced externally. Richard Sambrook, director of BBC Global News, called on the station to respect the original agreement.

"We cannot understand how the license is now interpreted in a way that does not reflect the original and thorough concept documents," he said.

Relations between London and Moscow have plummeted to their lowest level in years.

British prosecutors have demanded that Russia hand over a businessman they have accused in the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent and British citizen who died of radioactive poisoning in London last year.

Russia has refused, saying it is constitutionally barred from extraditing Russian citizens. It has also waged a public relations campaign accusing Britain of trying to recruit spies in Russia.