RIA Novosti

RIA Novosti is a Russian state-owned news agency whose institutional history reaches back to the Soviet Information Bureau, established on 24 June 1941 during the Second World War. The bureau was created to distribute reporting about the front, domestic production and civilian life through newspapers, magazines and radio. Its work was directed at both domestic audiences and international readers, and it operated through Soviet diplomatic, cultural and social organizations abroad. The agency was reorganized as the Novosti Press Agency, commonly known by its Russian initials APN, in 1961. APN became a major Soviet international information and publishing organization. It issued newspapers, magazines, books and political material in many languages, maintained offices in more than 100 countries and operated a large network for distributing Soviet state information overseas. Its stated mission emphasized international understanding and friendship, although its institutional role was closely connected to Soviet public diplomacy and official communications. In 1990, APN was renamed the Information Agency Novosti. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Information Agency Novosti was created in 1991 from the former Soviet information structures. A 1993 presidential decree formalized its role as a news and analytical agency. During the 1990s and 2000s, the organization expanded its radio, television and digital operations, while continuing to provide written news, photographs, analysis and multimedia services. It developed a broad correspondent network in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and other countries, and supplied material to state institutions, media organizations, businesses, diplomatic missions and public bodies. The agency was briefly associated with the name Russian Information Agency Vesti in the late 1990s, but it retained the RIA Novosti brand in its founding documentation from 2004. It also participated in the creation of Russia Today, later known as RT, although RIA Novosti described the television network as legally and editorially separate. This relationship reflected the wider consolidation of Russia's state-supported international media infrastructure. On 9 December 2013, President Vladimir Putin ordered the liquidation of RIA Novosti and the Voice of Russia radio service and their transfer into a new organization named Rossiya Segodnya. The reorganization was completed institutionally in 2014. Rossiya Segodnya launched Sputnik in November 2014 as its international multimedia platform, replacing the international-facing functions associated with RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia. Within Russia, however, the RIA Novosti name continued as Rossiya Segodnya's Russian-language news service, including the ria.ru online publication. RIA Novosti was registered as part of the new agency by Russia's media regulator on 8 April 2014. RIA Novosti currently functions primarily as a Russian-language digital news brand covering politics, government, economics, finance, society, science, culture, sport and international affairs. Its historical multilingual and overseas operations have been partly reorganized under Rossiya Segodnya and Sputnik. The brand remains an important channel for Russian state-associated news distribution, but its editorial role and coverage have attracted criticism from governments, researchers and media observers who characterize it as a vehicle for official narratives. Canada sanctioned RIA Novosti in 2023, and the European Union added it to a sanctions framework in 2024, citing alleged propaganda and information-manipulation activities.

RIA Novosti traces its institutional origins to Sovinformburo, created on 24 June 1941 by the Soviet government and Communist Party leadership. Its initial purpose was to coordinate reporting on the war, the home front and partisan activity and to circulate material through newspapers and radio. During the war it operated temporarily from Kuibyshev, now Samara, and distributed information through a substantial network of Soviet and foreign publications, radio stations, embassies and public organizations. In 1961, Sovinformburo was replaced by the Novosti Press Agency, or APN. The agency was founded by several Soviet public organizations, including the journalists' and writers' unions, the Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, and the Znaniye Society. APN described its mission as promoting mutual understanding while presenting information about the Soviet Union abroad and foreign societies to Soviet audiences. In practice, it served as a major state-supported international publishing and public-information institution. APN maintained bureaus in more than 100 countries and published illustrated newspapers, magazines, books and booklets in many languages. Its activities extended beyond text reporting into publishing, broadcasting and television. It published Moscow News, created a television center in the late Soviet period and developed media assets that later became associated with other Russian state-supported broadcasting structures. A 1990 presidential decree renamed APN the Information Agency Novosti, or IAN. The agency continued producing print, radio and television material and created a computerized document bank and an information hotline. After the Soviet Union dissolved, the Russian Information Agency Novosti was formed in 1991 on the basis of IAN and related Russian information structures. A 1993 presidential decree characterized it as a news and analytical agency. In the following years it expanded radio and television work, and in 1998 it became associated with the VGTRK information holding. The agency adopted the name Russian Information Agency Vesti in 1998, but its mass-media identity reverted to RIA Novosti in 2004. It operated a large domestic and international correspondent system and distributed political, economic, scientific, financial and social news in Russian and other languages. Its customers included Russian state institutions, regional administrations, diplomatic missions, businesses, public organizations and media outlets. RIA Novosti also participated in the establishment of Russia Today, later RT, while maintaining that the television network had separate legal, editorial and operational independence. On 9 December 2013, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the liquidation of RIA Novosti and the Voice of Russia radio service and their merger into Rossiya Segodnya. The restructuring was announced as a measure to improve the efficiency of state media, but it generated concern among journalists and observers about increased political control over editorial output. Employees were offered transfers to the new organization or redundancy arrangements during 2014. On 8 April 2014, RIA Novosti was formally registered as part of Rossiya Segodnya. The international-facing functions of the former agency were subsequently represented by Sputnik, launched by Rossiya Segodnya in November 2014. The RIA Novosti name nevertheless survived in Russia as the group's Russian-language service and online news outlet. Its current identity is therefore both a continuing editorial brand and a successor operation within a larger state media group, rather than an independent agency with the organizational status it possessed before the 2013 decree. The agency's wartime coverage, especially during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has produced repeated controversy. In February 2022 it briefly published a prematurely prepared article asserting that Russia had won the war and that Ukraine had returned to Russia. In April 2022 it published another article arguing for a sweeping and coercive treatment of Ukraine, which critics described as genocidal in implication. International platform restrictions and government sanctions followed or accompanied broader efforts to limit Russian state media distribution. These developments have reinforced the perception of RIA Novosti as a state-aligned information outlet whose reporting is closely connected to Russian government narratives.

1. 2014RIA Novosti is registered within Rossiya Segodnya

   The brand continues as a Russian-language service of Rossiya Segodnya while Sputnik becomes the international successor platform.

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2. 2013Liquidation and transfer to Rossiya Segodnya are ordered

   A presidential decree orders RIA Novosti's liquidation and transfer of its assets and workforce to a new state media agency.

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3. 2005Russia Today is launched

   RIA Novosti participates in establishing the international television network that later becomes RT.

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4. 2004RIA Novosti name is restored

   The agency's founding documents again identify it under the RIA Novosti name.

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5. 1998Agency is renamed Russian Information Agency Vesti

   The organization adopts the Vesti name while remaining part of Russia's state media system.

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6. 1993RIA Novosti receives a news-analytical mandate

   A presidential decree formalizes the agency's status and role as a news and analytical organization.

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7. 1991Russian Information Agency Novosti is created

   A Russian successor organization is formed from the former Soviet information structures after the dissolution of the USSR.

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8. 1990Agency becomes Information Agency Novosti

   A presidential decree renames APN and preserves its publishing, broadcasting and international information functions.

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9. 1961Novosti Press Agency replaces Sovinformburo

   APN is formed as a Soviet international information and publishing agency with extensive foreign distribution.

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10. 1941Sovinformburo is established

    The Soviet Information Bureau is created to coordinate wartime reporting for newspapers, magazines and radio.

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State-owned national news agency and official-affiliated Russian-language information service

• RIA Novosti Russian-language news serviceDigital news service1941

  The core continuing RIA Novosti operation is a Russian-language news service covering government, politics, economics, society, science, culture, sport and international affairs. It publishes rolling updates, reports, interviews, analysis and commentary through digital channels, including the ria.ru website. Since the 2014 reorganization, this service has operated within Rossiya Segodnya rather than as the separately structured agency that existed before the presidential liquidation decree.

• RIA Novosti photo serviceNews photography

  RIA Novosti has historically supplied editorial photography alongside written reporting. Its photo operation documents political events, public life, conflicts, science, culture and sport for media clients and digital publication. The photographic service formed part of the agency's broader news-wire offering and remains associated with the RIA Novosti brand within the Rossiya Segodnya media structure.

• RIA Novosti video and multimediaVideo news

  The agency developed television, radio and audiovisual capabilities during the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Its contemporary multimedia output includes video reports and other digital formats distributed with or alongside text stories. Some international multimedia functions were reorganized under Rossiya Segodnya and Sputnik after 2014, while RIA Novosti remained the group's Russian-language news brand.

• Multilingual international publishingInternational news distribution1961

  Before the reorganization, RIA Novosti distributed news and analysis through the internet and email in major European languages as well as Persian, Japanese and Arabic. Its predecessor APN had operated an even broader publishing network, with foreign bureaus, magazines and newspapers. Much of the international-facing role was subsequently transferred or re-expressed through Sputnik and other Rossiya Segodnya services.

• 2014Continuation of the RIA Novosti brand as a domestic serviceStrategy

  The post-reorganization structure separated the continuing Russian-language RIA identity from the international multimedia functions developed under Rossiya Segodnya.

  What changed. Rossiya Segodnya retained RIA Novosti as its Russian-language news service and online newspaper while launching Sputnik for international audiences.

  Aftermath. The brand remains active in Russia despite the liquidation of the former legal and organizational entity.

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• 2013Transfer into Rossiya SegodnyaM&A

  The Russian government sought to reorganize state media organizations and combine RIA Novosti with the international radio service Voice of Russia.

  What changed. A presidential decree ordered RIA Novosti's liquidation and the transfer of its assets and employees to the newly created Rossiya Segodnya.

  Aftermath. RIA Novosti ceased to exist as an independently structured agency, while its Russian-language news brand continued within Rossiya Segodnya and its international role was associated with Sputnik.

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• 2025Exterminatory headline concerning UkraineControversy

  RIA Novosti published a headline using language that called for no one in Ukraine to remain alive. The headline was reported as an example of the agency's extreme wartime rhetoric.

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• 2022Premature victory article on the invasion of UkraineControversy

  RIA Novosti briefly published an article prepared in anticipation of a Russian victory. It declared that Russia had won the war and that Ukraine had returned to Russia, prompting widespread criticism after the article was removed and copies circulated elsewhere.

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• 2022Article advocating coercive treatment of UkraineControversy

  An April 2022 RIA Novosti article discussing what Russia should do with Ukraine was condemned by commentators who interpreted its proposed policies and language as expressing genocidal intent.

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• 2024European Union sanctions RIA Novosti

  The European Union placed RIA Novosti under sanctions, citing its role in disseminating what EU authorities described as propaganda.

  RegulationOther
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• 2023Canada sanctions RIA Novosti

  Canada added RIA Novosti to its sanctions list in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

  RegulationOther
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• 2022Twitter restricts several RIA Novosti profiles

  Twitter blocked four RIA-related profiles in 27 countries, while leaving the principal account accessible. The platform itself was already blocked in Russia.

  RegulationOther
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• 2014RIA Novosti is registered within Rossiya Segodnya

  Russia's media regulator registered RIA Novosti as a news agency and online newspaper operating within the newly formed Rossiya Segodnya structure.

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• 2014Sputnik launches as the international successor platform

  Rossiya Segodnya launched Sputnik as an international multimedia service associated with the reorganization of RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia.

  Product launch
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• 2013Russia orders the liquidation of RIA Novosti and Voice of Russia

  A presidential decree ordered the two state media organizations to be dissolved and their assets and personnel transferred to a new agency, Rossiya Segodnya.

  M&ALeadership change
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1. RIA Novosti