The Moscow Times

• 1. Founding And Early Years

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  Derk Sauer arrived in Moscow during 1989 with a small twice-weekly paper called the Moscow Guardian. He planned to transform that publication into a world-class daily newspaper for Western expatriates. The first edition of The Moscow Times appeared in March 1992. It was the first Western daily published inside Russia at that time. Meg Bortin joined as its first editor in May 1992. The team used a room at the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel as their headquarters. No internet existed then, and many Westerners had moved to Moscow after the fall of the USSR. They did not speak Russian but held money in the city. Advertisers found this audience valuable. The newspaper quickly became a primary source of news quoted by both Russians and Western observers. It gave space to Russian commentators who otherwise lacked platforms. In the fall of 1993, editors helped defeat censors according to former editor-in-chief Meg Bortin. From the mid-1990s until 2000, operations ran from the old headquarters of Pravda. The website moscowtimes.ru registered in 1997.

• 2. Expansion And Ownership Changes

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  The newspaper added Jobs & Careers appendices during 2003 and 2004. A Real Estate appendix followed shortly after. The annual Moscow Dining Guide launched in 2005 alongside the Moscow Guide featuring high culture. Until 2005, Independent Media owned the paper. That Finnish publishing group Sanoma acquired Independent Media for €142 million that same year. An alliance with the International Herald Tribune began in 2006. The domain themoscowtimes.com launched in 2009. The publication celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2012 with a gala dinner at the Baltschug Kempinski Hotel. Color printing started in 2010 along with Travel Guide and Bar Guide projects. Sister publication The St. Petersburg Times ceased operations in 2014. Sanoma sold MoscowTimes LLC to private investors in 2015. Vladimir Jao became CEO of an airline catering company while owning 51% of the limited liability company holding the paper. Svetlana Korshunova serves as general director with 30%. Original founder Derk Sauer retained 19%. Russian law prohibits foreigners from controlling more than 20% of any Russia-based media company.

• 3. Transition To Digital Only

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  Malicious ads redirected website visitors to exploit kits during January 2014. Distributed denial of service attacks forced the site offline twice within months. Online comments were suspended in October 2014 due to abusive pro-Russian trolling. Legal liability under Russian law made user-generated content risky for publishers. The final paper edition appeared on the 6th of July 2017. Operations shifted to Stichting 2 Oktober, a foundation based in the Netherlands. The newspaper changed format from daily to weekly starting November 2015. Pages increased to 24 per issue released every Thursday. A Russian-language online service launched in March 2020. The shift to digital-only status occurred in July 2017 following regulatory pressures. This transition marked the end of print distribution at hotels cafés embassies and airlines. Subscriptions remained available but physical copies disappeared entirely from Russian markets.

• 4. Relocation And Legal Persecution

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  Restrictive media laws enacted after Ukraine invasion prompted headquarters relocation to Amsterdam in 2022. Roskomnadzor blocked access to the Russian-language website on the 15th of April 2022. Authorities claimed false reports about riot police officers refusing participation in the invasion. Editorial teams moved main operations to the Netherlands to ensure survival. Russia designated The Moscow Times as a foreign agent on the 17th of March 2023. Justice ministry accused the publication of spreading inaccurate information forming negative images of state decisions. On the 10th of July 2024, Prosecutor General declared it an undesirable organization. Anyone working for them or interacting could face prosecution and jail time. The Russian-language domain moscowtimes.ru was extrajudicially seized by Roskomnadzor on the 17th of December 2025. Editorial team moved operations to ru.themoscowtimes.com subdomain. Telegram links now direct readers to current domains when blocks occur. These measures effectively banned operation within Russian territory despite continued digital presence abroad.

• 5. Notable Journalists And Careers

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  American foreign correspondents launched international careers through work at this paper. Ellen Barry later became New York Times Moscow bureau chief. Anders Åslund served as a contributor focusing on economic issues. Alexander Baunov worked as editor covering political developments. Michael Bohm contributed reporting on cultural topics. Irina Borogan reported extensively on social movements. John Chryssavgis wrote religious affairs pieces. William Harrison Courtney covered diplomatic relations. Alexander Etkind analyzed academic perspectives. Mikhail Fishman led editorial direction from 2015 onward. Eva Hartog contributed investigative journalism. Igor Ivanov reported on business sectors. Radhika Jones covered global affairs. Andrey Kolesnikov focused on crime stories. Alexey Kovalev wrote about politics. Marko Mihkelson contributed technology coverage. Ivan Nechepurenko reported military matters. Anton Shekhovtsov analyzed extremism. Andrei Soldatov investigated security services. Konstantin Sonin commented on economics. Matt Taibbi provided critical commentary. Derk Sauer founded the publication in 1992. These journalists built reputations that extended far beyond Moscow borders.