Dubai: High-ranking Russian media and diplomats celebrated the relaunch of Anbaa Mosku — an Arabic-language newspaper covering Russian affairs — at a special gala function last night.
The newest paper in the United Arab Emirates, Anbaa Mosku now distributes 49,000 copies across the country.
The UAE is the latest market in the region for the newspaper, in addition to 13 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, the UK [London] and Russia [Moscow], with a total monthly circulation of 190,100.
"An Arab paper with a Russian soul is very much in demand," said Alexander Yu. Babinsky, deputy editor-in-chief of RiaNovosti, the Russian news agency that publishes the newspaper. "This is just the beginning for us."
Next step
In an interview with Gulf News, Babinsky said that if the newspaper performs well financially in the UAE and beyond, it could beef up its production schedule from publishing twice a month to a new weekly edition.
"The next step for us would be a weekly edition," he said.
The newspaper launch was attended by officials such as Raed Jaber, Anbaa Mosku Editor-in-Chief, as well as Tibor Zabirov, Senior Counsellor, Department Head of the Russian Embassy in the UAE.
The newspaper launch at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai featured an exhibit tracing the history of Anbaa Mosku since 1969 when the newspaper was established as an Arabic-language edition of The Moscow News.
Printing of Anbaa Mosku stopped shortly after the collapse of the Communist regime in 1991 but resumed again in October 2009 to help bridge long-standing ties between Russia and the Arab world.
