Every once in a while I skim through Russia: Beyond the Headlines, an occasional advertising supplement to the Washington Post which is sponsored by Rossiyskaya Gazeta. I tend to focus on the page devoted to books and publishing.

Yesterday’s issue contained an interview with Natasha Perova, who is the founder and publisher of GLAS New Russian Writing, which she has been editing since 1991.

The interviewer asked Perova the following question:

In many countries—for example, Sweden, America, Great Britain—the government supports the publication of books by national authors abroad. Does Russia doe something similar?

My reaction to this was … “Huh?”

Do we really do that? I’m aware of Voice of America, which reaches out via radio to foreign countries, and I know that the government has paid for pro-America articles to be published in Iraqi newspapers, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of the U.S. supposedly subsidizing the overseas publication of translated works.

Does this question begin from an accurate premise? To what is this interviewer referring?

Any ideas?