Media Alert: Russia! Magazine Press Conference to be held at the Consulate General of Russian Federation in New York on April 9

Attention editors

WHAT: Russia! magazine US launch press-conference
WHERE: Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York
9 East 91st Street (Btw. 5th and Madison)
WHEN: Monday, April 9 @ 10 a.m.

RUSSIA! Magazine to fill information gaps for curious westerners

April 3, 2007. /RusInfoService/ Premier issue of glossy western-style monthly Russia! magazine has hit newsstands in the US, Canada and Britain in March 2007.

The 132-page publication, its publisher Ilya Merenzon explains, is to satisfy the need in the West for balanced non-political reporting in respect to everyday issues of life in Russia – however big or humble – and the country’s place in a modern world. The first issue is exploring a wide variety of topics starting with the fate of free speech, Ivan the Terrible hidden treasures, time travel and homosexuality, also incorporating pictorials of Russian young women chopping wood and joys and perils of journeys to the Russia’s Far East. The magazine, published by the New York based PRG Corp. will be printed quarterly in 2007 with an objective to switch to monthly format in 2008.

Unlike existing periodicals focusing on Russia the magazine has the unique roster of contributors having brought together the ‘dream team’ including the pioneer Russian web-designer Artemy Lebedev, internationally acclaimed writer Boris Akunin, famed art critic Marat Guelman and others. Glossy Russia! is produced in collaboration with Andrew Paulson, the founder of Afisha Publishing House (Moscow, Russia) and one of the most successful western businessmen in the former Soviet Union.

Publishers believe that the magazine was the absolute necessity – with so much interest in Russia, there was virtually no resource for the critically thinking English- peaking public, which wants to know much more then clich'es about the country, and prefers to do it in a smart and convenient form of a glossy magazine. “The magazine is a success no matter what”, - says Paulson, who sits on the board of Russia!: “It will make Russians proud and it will certainly make Americans curious.”

The magazine with initial circulation of 20,000 copies, is to be distributed in the US and ‘the rest of the English-speaking world’. It will be available on newsstands and bookstores, including Barnes and Nobles, as well as major international airports around the globe.

RSVP @ rosinfoservice@mail.ru
merenzon@prgroup.info

For additional information, interview opportunities, and magazine review copies:
Russia! magazine website: www.readrussia.com
Media relations: Dimitri Klimentov
Publisher: Ilya Merenzon
phone: (914) 525-6058
(718) 755 6092

Russia! magazine cover and text images: http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/russia/