RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian
state-owned domestic
news agency
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...
. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created
Rossiya Segodnya
MIA Rossiya Segodnya (; ) is a media group owned and operated by the Russian government, created on the basis of RIA Novosti. The group owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI and several other entities. The head of the organisation is ...
agency. On 8 April 2014 RIA Novosti was registered as part of the new agency.
RIA Novosti is headquartered in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. The chief editor is Anna Gavrilova.
Content
RIA Novosti was scheduled to be closed down in 2014; starting in March 2014, staff were informed that they had the option of transferring their contracts to Rossiya Segodnya or sign a
redundancy contract. On 10 November 2014, Rossiya Segodnya launched the
Sputnik multimedia platform as the international replacement of RIA Novosti and
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia ( rus, Голос России, r=Golos Rossii), commonly abbreviated VOR, was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 2014, when it was reorganised as Radio Sputnik. Its interval signal w ...
. Within Russia itself, however, Rossiya Segodnya continues to operate its Russian language news service under the name RIA Novosti with its ria.ru website.
The agency published news and analyses of social-political, economic, scientific and financial subjects on the Internet and via e-mail in the main European languages, as well as in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
,
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
.
It had a correspondent network in the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
,
CIS
Cis or cis- may refer to:
Places
* Cis, Trentino, in Italy
* In Poland:
** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central
** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north
Math, science and biology
* cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...
and over 40 non-CIS countries.
Its clients include the presidential administration, Russian government, Federation Council,
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
, leading ministries and government departments, administrations of Russian regions, representatives of Russian and foreign business communities, diplomatic missions, and public organizations.
The last editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti was
Svetlana Mironyuk,
the first woman appointed to the role in the agency's history. According to the organisation's Charter, enterprise's property was federally owned (because federal
unitary enterprise
A unitary enterprise (russian: унитарное предприятие) is a government-owned corporation in Russia and some other post-Soviet states. Unitary enterprises are business entities that have no ownership rights to the assets that th ...
) and was indivisible. According to the agency, it was partially government-subsidized (2.7–2.9 billion
roubles
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
in 2013), but maintained full editorial independence.
History
Soviet Union
RIA Novosti's history dates back to 24 June 1941, when by a resolution of the
USSR Council of People's Commissars and the Communist Party Central Committee, "''On the Establishment and Tasks of the Soviet Information Bureau''", the
Soviet Information Bureau
Soviet Information Bureau (russian: Советское информационное бюро, translit=Sovetskoye informatsionnoye byuro, commonly known as Sovinformburo []) was a leading Soviet Union, Soviet news agency, operating from 1941 to 19 ...
(Sovinformburo) was set up under the USSR Council of People's Commissars and the Central Committee. Its main task was to oversee work to cover international, military events and the events of the country's domestic life in periodicals and on the radio (from 14 October 1941, to 3 March 1942, was based in Kuibyshev – modern-day Samara).
The bureau's main task was to compile reports on the situation on the frontline of the war, work on the home front, and the partisan movement for the radio, newspapers and magazines. Sovinformburo directed the activity of the All-Slavonic Committee, Anti-Nazi Committee of Soviet Women, Anti-Nazi Committee of the Soviet Youth, Anti-Nazi Committee of Soviet Scientists, and the Jewish Anti-Nazi Committee. In 1944, a special bureau on propaganda for foreign countries was set up as part of Sovinformburo.
Through 1,171 newspapers, 523 magazines and 18 radio stations in 23 countries, Soviet embassies abroad, friendship societies, trade unions, women's, youth and scientific organizations, Sovinformburo informed readers and listeners about the struggle of the Soviet people against Nazism and in the post-war years about the main areas of Soviet domestic and foreign policies.
Sovinformburo heads included
A.S. Shcherbakov (1941–45),
S. A. Lozovsky (1945–48) and Y.S. Khavinson, D.A. Polikarpov.
In 1961, the Novosti Press Agency (APN) succeeded Sovinformburo. It became the leading information and press body of
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
public organizations. The constituent conference was held on 21 February 1961. The conference of representatives of Soviet public organizations adopted a decision to create a press agency of public organizations named Novosti. The agency's guiding body was the Council of the Agency's Founders.
The APN founders were the USSR Journalists Union, USSR Writers Union, Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and the Znaniye Society. On 3 April 1961, the Agency charter was adopted. Under its charter, APN's aim was "to contribute to mutual understanding, trust and friendship among peoples in every possible way by broadly publishing accurate information about the USSR abroad and familiarizing the Soviet public with people’s lives of foreign countries." APN's motto was "Information for Peace, for the Friendship of Nations". APN had bureaus in over 120 countries. The Agency published 60 illustrated newspapers and magazines in 45 languages with a one-time circulation of 4.3 million copies. With the Union of Soviet Friendship Societies, APN published the newspaper, ''Moscow News'', which in September 1990 became an independent publication. APN Publishing House put out over 200 books and booklets with a total annual circulation of 20 million copies and book series such as ABC Political Science. In 1989, a TV center opened in APN. Later, it was transformed into the TV-Novosti TV company,
which, since 2005, operates
RT media network.
The APN heads included Boris Burkov (1961–70), Ivan Udaltsov (1970–75), Lev Tolkunov (1975–83), Pavel Naumov (1983–86),
Valentin Falin
Valentin Mikhailovich Falin (russian: Baлeнтин Mиxaйлoвич Фaлин) (3 April 1926 – 22 February 2018) was a Soviet diplomat and politician.
Early life
Falin was born in Leningrad. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Int ...
(1986–88), Albert Vlasov (1988–90).
![Newsroom RIA Novosti, Moscow 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Newsroom_RIA_Novosti%2C_Moscow_2.jpg)
By a decree of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, "On the Establishment of the Information Agency Novosti," the Information Agency Novosti (IAN) succeeded APN on 27 July 1990. "To provide information support for the USSR's state domestic and foreign policies and proceeding from the interests of the democratization of the mass media," the Novosti Press Agency was renamed the Information Agency Novosti (IAN). IAN's tasks remained the same – "preparing and publishing printed, TV and radio materials in the USSR and abroad; studying public opinion on Soviet foreign and domestic policies in the USSR and abroad." A computer databank was created in the Agency. Initially, it contained over 250,000 documents. In 1991, the Infonews hotline started operating in the Agency. IAN had bureaus in 120 countries. It published 13 illustrated magazines and newspapers. The chairman of the IAN Board was Albert Ivanovich Vlasov.
Russian Federation
![Information Office - Embassy of Russia in Washington, D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Information_Office_-_Embassy_of_Russia_in_Washington%2C_D.C.JPG)
The Russian Information Agency Novosti was created in September 1991 on the basis of IAN and the Russian Information Agency. By a
Presidential decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
of the Russian president dated 22 August 1991, RIA Novosti was placed within the competence of the Press and Information Ministry. RIA Novosti had about 80 bureaus and news offices abroad, over 1,500 subscribers in CIS countries and about a hundred in non-CIS countries. A Presidential decree of the
Russian president
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
of 15 September 1993 "''On the Russian Information Agency Novosti''", transformed RIA Novosti to a state news-analytical agency. RIA Novosti's radio channel – RIA-Radio worked in 1996. In August 1997, the TV channel Kultura was set up on the basis of the RIA TV channel under the sponsorship of the
VGTRK TV and radio broadcasting company. By a decree of the Russian president, "On Improving the Work of the State Electronic Media," the VGTRK information holding was created in May 1998, which RIA Novosti joined.
In May 1998, the agency was renamed the Russian Information Agency Vesti. As a mass media body, it retained the name of RIA Novosti on 1 April 2004, after making changes in the founding documents.
In 2005, RIA Novosti launched
RT (originally Russia Today) a global multilingual television news network, which is a government-funded but autonomous,
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. RIA Novosti asserts that it "merely participated in establishing the channel" which retained "complete legal, editorial and operational independence."
Reorganization
On 9 December 2013 Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
signed the liquidation of RIA Novosti "On some measures to improve the effectiveness of the state mass media" and merging it with the international radio service
Voice of Russia
Voice of Russia ( rus, Голос России, r=Golos Rossii), commonly abbreviated VOR, was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 2014, when it was reorganised as Radio Sputnik. Its interval signal w ...
to create
Rossiya Segodnya
MIA Rossiya Segodnya (; ) is a media group owned and operated by the Russian government, created on the basis of RIA Novosti. The group owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI and several other entities. The head of the organisation is ...
.
Dmitry Kiselyov
Dmitry Konstantinovich Kiselyov ( rus, Дмитрий Константинович Киселёв; born April 26, 1954), is a Russian propagandist. In 2013, Kiselyov was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to head ''Rossiya Segodnya' ...
, a former anchorman of the
Channel One Russia
Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...
is appointed as the president of the new information agency.
According to her interview, the editor-in-chief of the TV network RT,
Margarita Simonyan
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan (russian: link=no, Маргарита Симоновна Симоньян; born 6 April 1980) is a Russian journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled media organisations RT (formerly R ...
was completely unaware about the reorganization of the information agency and got the information from listening to competitor radio station
Kommersant-FM. The reorganization created concerns that RIA Novosti would become a propaganda outlet.
On 8 April 2014 RIA Novosti was registered by
Roskomnadzor
The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as ''Roskomnadzor'' (RKN) (russian: Роскомнадзор КН, is the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, co ...
as a news agency and online newspaper.
Notable incidents
On 26 February 2022, during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, RIA Novosti by mistake published an article titled "The arrival/attack of Russia and the new world" (""), which was prepared ahead of the time anticipating the Russian victory. In particular, it announced that Russia had won the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
and that "
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
has returned to Russia".
In the article, author
Petr Akopov
Petr Akopov is a Russian propagandist working for RIA Novosti, a Russian state-owned news agency. Akapov was the author of the pre-maturely published and theretracted articletitled "The arrival/attack of Russia and the new world" ("Наступл ...
condemned "
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
who rule
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
" for allegedly attempting to "steal Russian lands", described the 1991
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
as a "terrible catastrophe", and asserted that Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's launch of the invasion resolved the "Ukrainian question" to establish a "
new world order" with "Russia,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
and Ukraine, acting in geopolitical terms as a single whole" against the remainder of Europe.
The article was promptly removed by RIA Novosti, but not before it was republished by the state-owned news agency
Sputnik and translated by the Pakistani newspaper ''
The Frontier Post
''The Frontier Post'' is an independent English language daily newspaper founded in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1985. It publishes from Peshawar, Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, and Quetta.
History
When the paper was founded in 1985, there were no pr ...
'' into English under the title "The new world order".
On 3 April 2022, RIA published "
What Russia should do with Ukraine
"What Russia Should Do with Ukraine" (russian: Что Россия должна сделать с Украиной, translit=Chto Rossiya dolzhna sdelat' s Ukrainoy), is an op-ed article written by and published by the Russian state-owned news ag ...
", an article condemned for genocidal intent.
In August 2022 Twitter blocked 4 profiles of RIA in 27 countries. Twitter is banned in Russia.
Notable journalists
*
Vsevolod Kukushkin
Vsevolod Vladimirovich Kukushkin (russian: link=no, Всеволод Владимирович Кукушкин; born 3 May 1942) is a Russian journalist, writer and ice hockey administrator. He has written for ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'', TASS, RI ...
, ice hockey and sports correspondent (22 years)
See also
*
Information Telegraph Agency of Russia
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
*
Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
References
External links
*
RIA Novosti Charter on
website
{{Authority control
News agencies based in Russia
Russian news websites
Mass media companies of the Soviet Union
Eastern Bloc mass media
1941 establishments in the Soviet Union
Mass media companies established in 1941
2013 disestablishments in Russia
Mass media in Moscow
Mass media companies disestablished in 2013
Federal State Unitary Enterprises of Russia
Companies based in Moscow
State media
Government-owned companies of Russia