Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a nonprofit corporation that provides international communications service to Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East. It broadcasts in more than 30 of the languages used in these regions. The United States government established RFE/RL to oppose attempts by Communist governments of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to isolate their citizens from information about the world. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Communists lost control of nearly all these governments. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up into a number of independent states. RFE/RL is funded by grants from the U.S. Congress.