Izvestia

Izvestia (Известия, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, Izvestia, which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, disseminating official state propaganda. It is now described as a "national newspaper" of Russia.

The word izvestiya in Russian means "bring news" or "tidings", "herald" (an official messenger bringing news), derived from the verb izveshchat ("to inform", "to notify").

1917–1991


During the Soviet period, while Pravda served as the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, Izvestia expressed the official views of the Soviet government as published by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Its full name was Izvestija Sovjetov Narodnyh Djeputatov SSSR (in Russian, Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР, the Reports of Soviets of Peoples' Deputies of the USSR).

The Izvestia Trophy ice hockey tournament was named after the newspaper between 1969 and 1996.

Nedelya was the weekend supplement of Izvestia.

1992–present


Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Izvestia now describes itself as a "national newspaper" of Russia. The newspaper was owned by a vast holding company of Vladimir Potanin which had close ties with the government. A controlling stake in Izvestia was purchased by state-owned Gazprom on 3 June 2005, and included in the Gazprom Media holding. According to the allegations of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Raf Shakirov, editor-in-chief of Izvestia, was forced to resign because the government officials did not like the paper's coverage of the Beslan school hostage crisis. Other sources informed that Potanin had asked him to leave for fear the Kremlin would be riled by the explicit photographs of the massacre published by Izvestia. As of 2005, the circulation of Izvestia was 240,967. Its 2007 circulation certified by TNS Gallup Media was 371,000 copies. Until his death on 1 October 2008, the chief artist was Boris Yefimov, the centenarian illustrator who had worked as Joseph Stalin's political cartoonist.

In 2008, Gazprom Media sold Izvestia to National Media Group.

In May 2024, the European Union accused the newspaper of spreading propaganda and placed it on its sanctions list.