Blagovest-info

Blagovest-info (Russian: Благовест-инфо) is a Russian religious information agency and online publication specialising in coverage of religious life in Russia and abroad. It was founded in 1995 as a branch of the German Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) with financial support from the Catholic charity Kirche in Not. Initially conceived as a supplier of fresh news for radio broadcasts, it grew into a daily news service and later a full web publication. The agency is currently registered as a media outlet founded by individual entrepreneur I. M. Verbitsky and is associated with the international charitable foundation Blagovest-media. The agency's editorial office was originally located in a small room at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University on Mokhovaya Street. Its first trial news feeds appeared in late 1994, and from 1995 news production and distribution became daily. On 28 April 1995 the agency received official media licence No. 13560. The bulletin was issued two to three times a week in Russian and English. The editorial office was located at 125422, Moscow, Dmitrovsky Proyezd 6-1-53. The agency underwent re-registration in 2000 and 2019. In 1999 the first website, blagovest-media.ru, was launched. In June 2005 an updated website, blagovest-info.ru, was launched, developed by programmer Ivan Solovyov and designer Dmitry Petrov, with a special contribution from Irina Stovbyra. Its presentation took place at the Central House of Journalists and was attended by representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Russia, as well as well-known religious journalists. Blagovest-info's editorial team has included correspondents in various regions of Russia and neighbouring countries, including Moscow, the Volga region, the Baltics, the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. The agency is known for its objective and benevolent approach to covering interreligious and interconfessional issues. Its main editors have been Viktor Tarasevich (founder, 1995–2002) and Dmitry Vlasov (from 2002). The agency continues to publish news, reports, media monitoring, interviews, documents, photo galleries and announcements on its website.

Blagovest-info was founded in 1995 as a branch of the German Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN) and with financial support from the Catholic charity Kirche in Not (founded by Dutch priest Werenfried van Straaten, which since 1992 has actively helped the Russian Orthodox Church carry out complex missionary projects in many dioceses). The agency's office initially occupied a small room at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University on Mokhovaya Street. It was initially conceived only as a supplier of fresh news for radio broadcasts, mainly texts from various foreign agencies translated into Russian. In addition, since the leadership at the Brussels headquarters also wanted to receive news from Russia in English on a regular basis, translators became key employees at that time. Later the agency became part of the international charitable foundation Blagovest-media. At the end of 1994 the first trial news feeds appeared, and from 1995 news production and distribution began on a daily basis. On 28 April 1995 the agency received official licence No. 13560 as a mass media outlet. The bulletin was issued two to three times a week in Russian and English. The editorial office was located at 125422, Moscow, Dmitrovsky Proyezd 6-1-53. The agency underwent re-registration in 2000 and 2019. In 1999 the first website, blagovest-media.ru, was opened. From June 2005 an updated website, blagovest-info.ru, was launched. Its developers were programmer Ivan Solovyov and designer Dmitry Petrov, and a special contribution to the creation of the site belonged to Irina Stovbyra, who had extensive experience in online publications and before joining Blagovest-info had been the managing editor of Portal-Credo.ru for more than a year. Its presentation took place at the Central House of Journalists, and among the guests were the Apostolic Nuncio in the Russian Federation Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the Secretary General of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia Father I. L. Kovalevsky, the Chairman of the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest V. A. Silovyev, the Chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies Archpriest D. N. Smirnov, the Deputy Chairman of the DECR MP Archpriest V. A. Chaplin, the head of the press service of the Moscow Patriarchate Father V. N. Vigilyansky, the secretary of the Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church Father V. V. Shmaliy, well-known religious journalists M. L. Shevchenko, A. V. Shchipkov, A. I. Kyrlezhev, V. A. Smirnov, S. V. Chapnin, N. V. Kevorkova and V. M. Khrul, as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of the online publication Portal Credo.ru A. V. Soldatov, who was an employee of the agency. The original founder was CRTN. The current founder is individual entrepreneur I. M. Verbitsky. Editors-in-chief: Viktor Boleslavovich Tarasevich (1963–2002). In 1984 he graduated from the Minsk State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages and for several years worked as a teacher of English and French at a secondary school in Grodno. In 1990 he studied in Brussels at the Robert Schuman Institute of Journalism. In 1992 he moved to Moscow for permanent residence. Being a Catholic by faith, he worked at the Christian radio station Blagovest. In 1995 he founded and headed the religious information agency Blagovest-info. He was killed in February 2002 during a private car trip in Germany together with his 33-year-old younger brother Yuri. Dmitry Vladimirovich Vlasov (born 1964). In 1987 he graduated from the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University with a degree in international journalism. He worked at the Russian State Library and the All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature named after M. I. Rudomino. Since 1995 he has been a journalist, translator and editor, and since 2002 he has been the editor-in-chief of Blagovest-info. Editorial team: In 2004 Dmitry Vlasov said in an interview with the online publication Religion and Media: "I would like to say warm words about our Moscow correspondent Yulia Zaitseva. By education she is an art historian (graduated from the history faculty of Moscow State University), by faith she is an Orthodox Christian, sincerely interested in information about the life of various religious communities in Russia. I would say that Yulia and our agency are simply made for each other: objectivity, impartiality and at the same time sincere benevolence are inherent in her worldview, and this fully corresponds to the principles of Blagovest-info. For example, during the recent conflict around the church in Kadashi, when the Orthodox community forcibly occupied the restoration workshops, Yulia interviewed representatives of both sides. It seems to me that the information on this conflict from our agency was quite exhaustive. I would also like to mention our Volga correspondent Vladimir Sizganov, he lives in Saransk. He monitors the Volga media on the religious situation and, in addition, has many personal contacts in Saransk and beyond. Information coming from Vladimir is always prompt and very interesting. We also have correspondents in other regions: both in Russia and in the near abroad. In particular, in Riga we have a correspondent Diana Chuchkova, thanks to whom, for example, we were the first to provide information about the conflict in the Grebenshchikov Old Believer community. We also have 'our people' in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia. Unfortunately, we are not always able to obtain complete information about what is happening in these regions due to the closed nature of the system of these countries."

• 2005

  Updated website blagovest-info.ru launched in June; presentation at the Central House of Journalists.

• 2002

  Founder and editor-in-chief Viktor Tarasevich killed in February; Dmitry Vlasov becomes editor-in-chief.

• 2000

  Agency undergoes re-registration.

• 1999

  First website blagovest-media.ru launched.

• 1995

  Agency founded; daily news production and distribution begins; official media licence No. 13560 received on 28 April.

• 1994

  First trial news feeds appear at the end of the year.

Objective and benevolent coverage of religious life in Russia and abroad, with a focus on interreligious and interconfessional dialogue.

• Daily news feed

  News on religious life in Russia and abroad, published on the website.

• News bulletin

  Bulletin issued two to three times a week in Russian and English.

• Media monitoring

  Monitoring of media coverage on religious issues.

• Interviews and reports

  Interviews with religious figures and reports on events.

1. 1Благовест-Инфо official websiteblagovest-info.ru
2. 2Blagovest-info on Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Благовест-инфо on Russian Wikipediaru.wikipedia.org