Vladimir Putin Dissolves Main State News Agency, Tightens Control Over Russian Media

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dissolved the country's main state news agency and replaced it with an organization that works to promote Moscow's image, effectively tightening the president's control over media output. 

Putin dissolved RIA Novosti and replaced it with a news agency known as Rossiya Segodnya, according to Reuters. RIA has been in existence since 1941, Business Insider reports. The strategic move is his second in two weeks that tightens his grip on the media following protests against his leadership. 

Most Russian news outlets are loyal to the president, with dissidents getting little air time. Yet, Putin's latest move underlines the media's importance in supporting Putin's leadership and keeping him in power. 

The head of the new news agency is conservative news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, who sparked outrage by saying that the organs of homosexuals should not be used in organ transplants. 

"The main focus of ... Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) is to highlight abroad the state policy and public life of the Russian Federation," said a decree signed by Putin.

Sergi Ivanov, the head of Putin's administration, told the media that the change was made in an effort to save money and improve state media. 

Yet, the new media outlet shows major similarities to APN, a news agency during the Soviet-era that wrote propaganda articles about "the social-economic and cultural life of the Soviet people and items reflecting Soviet society's point of view on important internal and international events".

RIA released an English-language article that criticized Putin's decree. "The move is the latest in a series of shifts in Russia's news landscape which appear to point towards a tightening of state control in the already heavily regulated media sector."

Rossiya Segodnya's could allow Putin to limit sources of news for Russians whose TV screens are already mostly run by state-controlled channels. 

Putin's decree did not effect the two other major Russian news outlets, state-run Itar-Tass and private Interfax. However, it could benefit both agencies by making RIA's replacement less of a domestic competitor. 

The Kremlin further tightened control over media on Nov. 26, when the media sector of state-controlled Gazprom bought mining tycoon Vladimir Potanin's Profmedia. 

Now, the former Soviet gas ministry will add television and radio stations as well as movies and film production assets. 

The Kremlin also funds an English-language TV channel called RT, formerly known as Russia Today. Rossiya Segodnya will operate out of RIA Novosti's headquarters in Moscow.