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Russia's famous news agency returns to its former name TASS

Director General Sergei Mikhailov broke the news to staff on Monday as the agency celebrated its 110th anniversary

© ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin

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MOSCOW, September 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's leading state-run news agency has rebranded itself. No longer ITAR-TASS, the news giant's now returning to its former and world-famous name for delivering news to global audiences - simply titled TASS.

The hyphenated anagram ITAR is history, the management decided - the words Information Telegraph Agency of Russia, added to the Soviet-era-named TASS after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, will no longer make headlines.

Director General Sergei Mikhailov broke the news to staff on Monday as the agency celebrated its 110th anniversary, launching new corporate styling to create a powerful new brand. Transisition to the new name will run throughout the rest of the year.

“The decision was made to return to the historic and globally recognized name of TASS - delivering simply a brand name,” Mikhailov said. “After going through all official procedures connected with registration and amendments to the Charter, we will be called the Information Agency of Russia ‘TASS’."

“Rebranding the oldest news agency in Russia is destined to become a symbol of professionalism, enthusiasm, readiness of its team for personal development and the agency’s bid to preserve and develop its best traditions,” he added.

New branding is based on the idea of a reliable source of constantly updated and integrated information under the title “We Know”, Mikhailov said.

“The idea of the TASS brand name is to give people the possibility to form their knowledge on the basis of exhaustive information about developments.”

“As TASS has huge archives of news and photographs of the past, we can follow some issues in their historical evolution,” the chief said, adding that by presidential decree of December 9, 2013, TASS now incorporates the Central Institute of Bibliography.

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