“The pro-Marxist government of President Salvador Allende that came to power in Chile in 1970 was the first attempt of a parliamentary transition to socialism in the Latin American history,” Leonard Kosichev says. “The government was acting strictly in line with the constitution, but that experiment was cut short by the Chilean military whose violent methods invoked the darkest memories of the continent’s long history of bloody coups and clampdowns. And still, it was the first time an incumbent President was killed defending, with arms in hand, his constitutional mandate to power… Always a law-abiding moralist and democrat, Salvador Allende was keen on doing everything strictly within the limits of the law – traits that at times made him look like a high-flying idealist. Or as a “trusting humanist” as many people called him…”

From virtually day one of the 1973 takeover, Radio Moscow stood tall by the junta’s victims laying bare its crimes and spreading the truth about what was happening… The military junta’s response didn’t taker long coming and a few days later Leonard Kosichev, who also worked for Radio Moscow International, was arrested.

“There were six police officers, all armed with submachine guns, stomping into my office…” Leonard Kosichev recalls. “I told them I wanted to get in touch with the Soviet Embassy. Ignoring my request, they pushed me into the waiting car and whisked me to the local jailhouse.  In the dead of night they woke me up saying the investigator wanted to see me.  The man was trying hard to squeeze whatever information he could get out of me to implicate Radio Moscow… I had nothing to hide but the problem was, my company had came down hard on Pinochet and his murderous sidekicks from the very moment they grabbed power… Thanks to our diplomats’ quick intervention they eventually let me go…”

The Soviet Union broke off all diplomatic ties with Chile where General Pinochet was busily entrenching his dictatorship. Leonard Kosichev left the country with the last group of Soviet nationals. Back in Moscow he started preparing a series of Spanish-language broadcasts denouncing the crimes being committed by Pinochet and his people. These programs, prepared also by a team of excellent Chilean journalists who left their country in the wake of the coup, found many eager listeners in Chile and other Latin American countries. The junta made repeated attempts to jam our broadcasts but to little avail… 

“Sometimes it so happened that, by reporting the arrest of this or that Chilean patriot, we saved his life and even secured his eventual release,” Leonard Kosichevn says. “Yes, our three-hour Listen, Chile! program was doing a great job, it really was!.. The Listen Chile! program was one of Radio Moscow’s main highlights. Its very name struck such a loud chord with the Chileans who, suffering from severe censorship, were desperately in need of truthful information about what was really going on… They called Radio Moscow Chile’s Number One radio station with the prominent politician and democrat, Manuel Cantero heaping praise on what he said was Radio Moscow’s “outstanding contribution to our struggle.” 

Echoing Mr. Cantero’s opinion, Eduardo Frei, Chile’s second civilian for many years. “Your broadcasts are part of our history now,” Eduardo Frei said during his recent visit to our Moscow studios.