26 Feb 2004 10:29

Interfax opens office in Central Federal District

The international news agency Interfax Information Services Group established an office in the Central Federal District on February 26, 2004 with the release of a special newswire, Central Russia News, which is exclusively concerned with issues in this federal district.

The Interfax-Center news agency has become the sixth large-scale regional project launched by the Interfax Group in Russia.
"With the establishment of the Interfax-Center news agency, we have reached the final phase in implementing one of our strategic projects by opening news agencies in all of Russia‘s federal districts. A unified informational expanse in the Russian territory is becoming a reality," said Interfax Group General Director Mikhail Komissar in comments on the opening of the new office.
Earlier, the Interfax Group announced the opening of major regional agencies in the Northwestern, Urals, Siberian, Volga, and Southern Federal Districts (Interfax-Northwest, Interfax-Urals, Interfax-Siberia, Interfax-Volga and Interfax-South). These separate agencies are designed to provide comprehensive political and economic information on regional and federal issues to media outlets, businesses, and government agencies.
Chief of Interfax‘s Moscow news department Leonid Persky has been appointed general director of the Interfax-Center news agency.
"Central Russia has vast economic, scientific, and intellectual potential, and we hope that news from the regions of this federal district will be of interest and use to a wide range of subscribers. Prompt and unbiased reports by our correspondents will present an objective picture of the developments in the Central Federal District," Persky said.
The Interfax Group has been the leading source of up-to-the-minute information about Russia and the CIS for the international community since the early 1990s. It is the commonly recognized leader in the foreign press in providing information on Russia and is among the most frequently used sources of prompt information in the world.
The structure of the Interfax Group, which was set up in 1989 and currently comprises over twenty companies, incorporates a network of national, regional, and sectoral news agencies operating under the Interfax brand throughout Russia and the CIS, in China, and in a number of Central and Eastern European countries.
Along with these, the Interfax Group includes organizations engaged in the analytical sphere, the development of special software services, and cooperation with leading international news providers.