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Ignatenko re-elected president of World Association of Russian Press

The voting took place at the first full-scale meeting of the just-opened 14th World Congress of the Russian press

NAPLES, September 24 (Itar-Tass) —— The chairman of the Itar-Tass board, Vitaly Ignatenko, has been unanimously re-elected president of the World Association of the Russian Press. The voting took place at the first full-scale meeting of the just-opened 14th World Congress of the Russian press, being held under the auspices of Itar-Tass.

WARP is an open international non-governmental organization uniting printed and electronic mass media, agencies, publishers, editorial boards, television and radio channels and other Russian-language mass media. On the list of WARP’s founders are the news agency Itar-Tass, the Russian Institute of the Press, the newspapers Novoye Russkoye Slovo (the US), and Russkaya Mysl (France). These days it is an influential non-governmental structure, uniting a majority of the more than 3,000 printed and electronic mass media using the Russian language in 80 countries. WARP is headquartered in Moscow.

Vitally Ignatenko has been WARP president since 1999. Taking part in the voting were 250 delegates – representatives of national mass media, Russian press publishers and the industry’s managers from 54 countries. A new WARP Executive was elected. WARP has three commissions – for journalistic ethics, for the settlement of media disputes, and for technical issues.

One of WARP’s main tasks is the popularization of the Russian language, which, according to the latest opinion polls, holds third place in the world and is the official or working language of most authoritative international organizations. There are more than 300 million Russian speakers around the globe. Among WARP’s other objectives are the strengthening of contacts with compatriots, the elaboration of approaches to impartial and wider coverage of events underway in Russia and the creation of a global Russian-language media space. Through WARP channels Itar-Tass furnishes disinterested information support for the Russian press abroad. Many foreign periodicals are connected to the Itar-Tass newsline and use the agency’s photo service and archives.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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