1 Jul 2005 17:49

Interfax Launches English-Language Version of Religion Portal <a href=http://www.interfax-religion.com target=blank>www.interfax-religion.com</a>

Interfax Information Services Group has launched an English-language version of its Religion information portal (www.interfax-religion.com), the first web resource on key events in the religious life of Russia and CIS countries designed for a foreign audience.

The portal was established within the framework of the Religion news and analysis project that Interfax is implementing with the Inter-Religious Council of Russia. This is the second specialized Internet resource of the group dealing with religious affairs.
At the end of December 2004, Interfax launched the Russian-language website www.interfax-religion.com , which became highly popular among Internet users in Russia and beyond in half a year. Religious leaders of Russia, including Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II, Russian Council of Muftis Chairman Ravil Gainutdin, and Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar welcomed the project.
The Russian-language Religion portal has by now become an indisputable leader among Russian-language religious web resources. Over 6,000 people visit www.interfax-religion.ru daily making over 30,000 queries.
The information posted on www.interfax-religion.com can be accessed for free, just as on www.interfax-religion.com . A setting vehicle selecting materials by geography and subject is an unique additional service offered by the English-language portal. For instance, the newswire can be set so that it would show only news about Orthodox Christians in Ukraine or Muslims in Uzbekistan.
"When we developed the English-language site, we took into account all the requirements of users of up-to-date news portals. In addition to news, the website will carry exclusive interviews, communiques and other documents from religious organizations. We expect visitors to our portal to find information that is unavailable in other mass media," said Interfax Political Information Service Chief Editor Alexei Meshkov.
"The project will offer the latest, most reliable information about all sides of the life of religious organizations in Russia and CIS countries, their interaction with each other and with the state to foreign journalists, scholars, politicians and business representatives," he said.