(, commonly abbreviated "АиФ" and translated as ''Arguments and Facts'') is a weekly newspaper based in Moscow and a publishing house in Russia and worldwide. Since 2014, it has been owned by the

Government of Moscow The Government of Moscow (, ) is the highest executive body of state authority of Moscow. The Government of Moscow is headed by the highest official of the city of Moscow, i.e. the Mayor of Moscow. The members of the Government of Moscow are the ...

History and profile

It was founded in 1978 by the All-Union Organisation "Znanie" (Knowledge) and was published throughout the whole

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

for lecturers, propagandists, political agitators. In 1980 ''AiF'' was transformed into a weekly but was available only by subscription. In late 1980s, it was one of the leading publications in the

Glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...

period. AiF was listed in the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

with the largest circulation of any weekly publication. In 1990 it had a print run of 33.5 million. With the

fall of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of Nationalities, Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. :s: ...

, publication of it was discontinued in countries outside the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. As of 2008, the circulation was about 3 million copies, with about 8 million readers. More specifically its February 2008 circulation was 2,750,000. During this time, it was owned by Promsvyazbank and the newspaper was edited by Nikolay Zyatkov.Alexei Bessudnov, "Media Map" (183–189), ''Index on Censorship'', Volume 37, Number 1, 2008, p. 185.

References

External links

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About Argumenty I Fakty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Argumenty I Fakty 1978 establishments in the Soviet Union Newspapers published in Moscow Newspapers published in the Soviet Union Newspapers established in 1978 Russian-language newspapers published in Russia Weekly newspapers published in Russia