Russian-Language Press The streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg are filled with newspaper kiosks selling prose, porn and everything in between. Some of the leading Russian-language papers are Kommersant and The Moscow Times' sister paper Vedomosti.
The most widely read daily in Moscow is the sometimes-tabloidish, sometimes-trenchant Moskovsky Komsomolets, or MK.
Foreign-Language Press The Moscow Times is published five days a week (Monday-Friday) and is Moscow's most regular English-language publication. Click here to see a map of locations where the paper is distributed freely.
The MT also publishes Business Review, a monthly, full-color magazine that focuses on business in Russia.
The Moscow Times' St. Petersburg sister paper, The St. Petersburg Times, is published on Tuesdays and Fridays in St. Petersburg.
Other less-frequently published English language papers available in Moscow include The Russia Journal, a weekly that is often critical of The Moscow Times' editorial line, and The Moscow Tribune.
The bi-weekly eXile is Moscow's entertaining, though windy and self-important, alternative rag. It is often highly critical of how Russia is covered by the mainstream media, including The Moscow Times. Moscow also has semi-regular papers published in German and French.
Most hotels, restaurants, and stores that cater to foreigners usually have at least some of the local foreign-language publications available, and many foreign dailies and weeklies can be found at selected outlets around Moscow -- best bets are the hotels and news kiosks around Tverskaya Ulitsa.
TV and Radio Russia's three dominant TV stations are RTR, ORT and NTV. State-controlled RTR reaches the farthest into the nation's hinterlands.
NTV is the most popular among the more cosmopolitan Muscovites and Petersburgers. The only station critical of the government's war in Chechnya, NTV spent much of 2000 battling its state-controlled creditors for survival.
ORT was long dominated scandalized industrialist Boris Berezovsky. But after falling out with the Putin Administration, the former Yeltsin crony sold his 49-percent stake in the station to oil tycoon and Chukotka-region governor, Roman Abromovich. The federal government controls the remaing 51 percent in the station.
A host of other regional stations are spread across the nation. English-language programming is available through satellite service.
The capital's favorite station for news and talk is Ekho Moskvy (92.1 FM), a station owned by Media-MOST, the embattled company that controls NTV.
In addition to Ekho Moskvy, Moscow and St. Petersburg have a range of typical Western stations.
Online Media Russia has witnessed an explosion in Internet news sites in the last couple of years. Almost every Russian newspaper has its own site, and there is a range of dedicated web sites. Many of the Russian sites have English-language sections, including Gazeta.ru, Lenta.ru, smi.ru and Polit.ru.
Among Western sites focusing on Russia, the long-established Russia Today has a broad mix of news and services.
WayToRussia.net is an excellent English-language travel guide to Russia which features extensive information about many popular destinations.
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