Russian Olympic Host News Agency RIA Novosti To Fulfill Duties Despite Changes

Russian Olympic host news agency RIA Novosti "will fulfil its obligations" at the 2014 Sochi Games "despite being due to be abolished and absorbed into a new company," according to R-SPORT. The Kremlin announced Monday the dissolution of RIA Novosti, the country’s major state-run news agency, of which R-Sport is a part, "amid a wide-ranging reorganization of state-owned media assets." RIA Novosti and the state-owned Voice of Russia radio "will be scrapped and absorbed into a new media conglomerate called Rossiya Segodnya under Kiselyov," according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin. RIA Novosti and its sports arm R-Sport "were given Olympic host agency status" for the Sochi Games by the IOC in '11. Incoming RIA Novosti Head Dmitry Kiselyov "did not specify whether the Olympic coverage would be provided under the current RIA Novosti and R-Sport brands" (R-SPORT, 12/10).