Vitaly Nikitich Ignatenko (; born 19 April 1941) is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

journalist and politician who had been the head of

ITAR-TASS The Russian News Agency TASS, or simply TASS, is a Russian state-owned news agency founded in 1904. It is the largest Russian news agency and one of the largest news agencies worldwide. TASS is registered as a Federal State Unitary Enterpri ...

news agency from 1993 until 2012 and had served in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (13 February 1985 – 17 July 1989), after which he became first chairm ...

from 1995 to 1997 as

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

. He has also been a member of different journalism organizations and foundations promoting the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

and Russian-speaking press.

Biography

Graduating from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

with a degree in journalism, he worked for the ''

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (; ) is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925. Its name is in reference to the official Soviet newspaper '' Pravda'' (English: 'Truth'). History and profile During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya ...

'' and ''

Novoye Vremya ''The New Times'' (, tr. ''Novoe Vremya'') is a Russian language magazine in Russia. The magazine was founded in 1943. The magazine is a liberal, independent Russian weekly news magazine, publishing for Russia and Armenia. (During the Soviet ...

'' newspapers in the 1980s. From 1990 to 1991 he served as the press secretary of Soviet President

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

. On June 2, 1995, Ignatenko was appointed Deputy Chairman of Government of the Russian Federation for media affairs. He worked in coordination with fellow deputy chairman

Sergei Shakhrai Sergei Semyonovich Shakhrai (; born 28 June 1958) is a Russian retired pair skater. With partner Marina Cherkasova, he is the 1980 Olympic silver medalist, 1980 World champion, and 1979 European champion. Career Cherkasova and Shakhrai ...

. In 1997, during the

Tajikistani Civil War The Tajikistani Civil War,, group=pron also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of Preside ...

, he was in contact with a local warlord to organize the release of foreign hostages. In September 2012 Ignatenko was replaced as head of ITAR-TASS news agency. He is also a

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title, title of authority, legal status and job description assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and advocates who are designated by the United Nations. UNESCO goodwill ambas ...

Vitaly Igantenko
UNESCO. Retrieved 10 May 2018. and President of the World Association of Russian Press.
Official website of Belarusian government. Published 12 July 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2018.

Sources

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ignatenko, Vitaly 1941 births Living people Russian male journalists 20th-century Russian politicians Deputy heads of government of the Russian Federation Moscow State University alumni People from Sochi Members of the Federation Council of Russia (after 2000) Full Cavaliers of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"