These were mainly short news bulletins or announcements relating to UK Foreign Office policy in Russian from 1943 onwards but often weeks or months apart.

By 26 March 2011, the BBC Russian Service had moved all of its operation to the Internet, halting radio broadcasting after 65 years on air.

[6][7] A BBC spokesman said:[5] The service remains an important and strong source of impartial and independent news and current affairs renowned for asking difficult questions on behalf of its listeners.

[8] The BBC World Service denied it[citation needed] and said the problems it faced in acquiring carriage on FM in Russia emanated from the growing impact its distinctive programmes were having with audiences rather than weakening the quality of its output.

They said it was the awkward journalistic questions the BBC had asked that inspired the authorities to bring persistent pressure to bear upon its FM partners to drop its programmes until the threat of losing their licences altogether became too strong.

[14][15] This musical composition by Jeremiah Clarke in an arrangement for trumpet, string orchestra and organ by Sir Henry Wood became widely known to the audience in the USSR thanks to the BBC broadcasting.

[16] The arrangement, as aired on the BBC radio, was perceived in particular as a genuine example of the British "imperial" style and was used as such by the Russian composer Vladimir Dashkevich while writing the main music theme for the popular series of television films The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr.