Russian President Vladimir Putin has dissolved RIA Novosti, the famous State News Agency of Russia. A new Agency known as Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) has been created from the people and resources of RIA Novosti. Dmitry Kiselyov, a famous news anchor of Russia has been appointed as its Chief.
This step of Putin is widely seen as  a bid to tighten the grip over media in the country.
â€The main focus of… Rossiya Segodnya is to highlight abroad the state policy and public life of the Russian Federation,†said a decree signed by Putin.
Reports speak that  Rossiya Segodnya has strong similarities to APN, a Soviet-era news agency whose role included writing articles about “the social-economic and cultural life of the Soviet people and items reflecting Soviet society’s point of view on important internal and international events.â€