Russia’s oldest English-language newspaper.
Moscow News (pub. 1930–2014) was the oldest English-language newspaper in Russia and, arguably, the newspaper with the longest democratic history. From a mouthpiece of the Communist party to an influential advocate for social and political change, the pages of Moscow News reflect the shifting ideological, political, social and economic currents that have swept through the Soviet Union and Russia in the last century.
The Moscow News Digital Archive contains all obtainable published issues (1930–2014, approx. 60,000 pages), including issues of the newspaper’s short-lived sister publication Moscow Daily News (1932–1938). The archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, and features full page-level digitization, complete original graphics, and searchable text, and is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
- Product Code: DA-MN
- Year First Published: 1930
- Archive: 1930–2014
- Language: English
- Country: Russia
- City: Moscow
- Frequency: Weekly
- Format: PDF, page-based
- Producer: Infoteka
More About Moscow News
In its early years, Moscow News largely served as yet another weapon in the Soviet Union’s propaganda arsenal, offering foreigners a window into the Soviet way of life. Initially committed to news reportage, Moscow News ultimately abandoned the format adopting a more formal Communist Party ideological worldview and language, operating under the auspices of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
Despite striving to stay within the boundaries of Soviet guidelines, the newspaper’s founding editors and staff found themselves in the crosshairs. Starting in the late 1930s, multiple staff members were arrested and the newspaper’s status became tenuous. Moscow News was ultimately shut down by the Politburo in 1949.
Moscow News was rehabilitated in 1956 during the Khrushchev Thaw, and the onset of Gorbachev-era perestroika and glasnost reforms brought about a slew of changes in the newspaper’s editorial direction. Strict ideological commitments of the previous decades were abandoned in favor of more reformist and even independent views, with traditionally taboo subjects like the repressions and show trials of the 1930s, or the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by Soviets, no longer being off limits. As a result of these changes Moscow News would soon become one of the most outstanding and most important Russian periodicals of the era.
Like many newspapers, Moscow News faced financial challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was forced to cease all foreign-language editions, leaving just the English and Russian (which ceased in 2008), and underwent several changes of ownership, including, for a time, the outspoken oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Throughout these transitions, the newspaper worked to maintain its reputation as an influential voice for critical, independent reporting.
Ultimately, Moscow News was forced to cease publication in early 2014 when its owner, state-funded news agency RIA Novosti, was shut down by President Vladimir Putin. The newspaper’s reputation for critical, independent reporting – not to mention Its own tumultuous history – makes Moscow News an essential resource for understanding the various political and social shifts that occurred during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras and the new challenges facing Russia in the Putin era.
