TASS
Russian state
Background
TASS traces its origins to the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency, established in 1904 under the Russian Ministry of Finance during the Russo-Japanese War. After the Bolshevik revolution, it was reorganized as the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) in 1925, becoming the sole official conduit for foreign news inside the USSR and a key tool of Soviet propaganda. During the Cold War, Western intelligence agencies documented TASS as a cover for Soviet intelligence operations, with staff abroad serving as informants for the KGB and GRU. After the Soviet collapse, it was briefly renamed ITAR-TASS in 1992 to reflect a merger with RIA-Novosti's international arm, then reverted to simply TASS in 2014. It remains a Federal State Unitary Enterprise — effectively a government agency — with its director general, Sergey Mikhaylov, sanctioned by the EU and UK in 2022 for spreading distorted information about Ukraine. The EU has also targeted TASS itself for sanctions tied to its role in Russia's disinformation campaigns. Independent analysts and press-freedom organizations consistently rate TASS as a state propaganda outlet: it does not publish content critical of Vladimir Putin, often does not attribute claims to verifiable sources, and mirrors official Russian government narratives on conflicts including Ukraine.
Sources
- TASS – Wikipedia
- TASS – State Media Monitor
- TASS History – TASS official site
- Russian News Agency-TASS – Media Bias/Fact Check
- ITAR-TASS – Britannica
- New EU sanctions to strike at Russia's TASS 'news' agency – EUobserver
- Presidents Putin, Trump set to restore normal US-Russia ties — TASS
- TASS – Bias and Reliability – Biasly
Profile compiled 2026-06-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.