With this issue of The Moscow Times, we are taking a new step in the still short existence of our newspaper.


Seven months ago, on March 6, 1992, we launched The Moscow Times as a twice-weekly publication. Today we are making The Moscow Times into a daily newspaper, published Monday through Friday. In doing so, we are proud to write a little history.


The Moscow Times is the first English-language daily to be published on Russian soil.


The notion of a daily in English seemed far away when I came to this city, almost three years ago. But thanks to the fundamental changes in Russian society and the ever growing number of foreigners and English-speaking Russians in Moscow, the time has come.


In the past seven months The Moscow Times has established itself as the city's leading English-language publication, with investigative reports, business news, political analysis, cultural features, sports and news about the foreign community in Moscow.


We now will broaden this coverage, adding international news, an expanded opinion page, many new features and a weekend arts and entertainment section.


To be ready for this new challenge, we have increased the editorial staff to 25 reporters and editors. They are headed by Meg Bortin, who as of today succeeds Michael Hetzer as editor of The Moscow Times. Berlin, who joins us from the International Herald Tribune in Paris, is a former correspondent for Reuters in Moscow. Hetzer becomes the newspaper's roving correspondent, traveling throughout the former Soviet Union to chart the progress of the transition from communism to the future.


Over the last few months Bortin has formed a team of talented young journalists. Marc Champion, a former correspondent of The Independent in the Balkans, has joined The Moscow Times as political editor; Steve Liesman, a former business reporter at The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, is our business editor; Karen Dukess, formerly a contributing editor at Moscow Magazine, is the new features editor, and Gary Stewart, with several years in publishing throughout the United States, is our new managing editor.


The elegant new look of the newspaper was designed by J. Eric Jones, former art director of the Russian-American journal Montage, who takes over as our graphics editor.


Starting now it is possible to subscribe to The Moscow Times, both in Moscow and outside the C. I. S. In Moscow our own fleet of drivers will deliver the newspaper every morning before 10 A. M. to your home or office (except Mondays, when the paper will be published at noon, due to conditions set by our printer).


We could not have embarked on this exciting venture without the support of our readers, advertisers and Founding Members. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you for sharing our belief in this project.


As the publisher of The Moscow Times it is a joy and privilege to work with such a motivated and bright team. I'm sure that you, as readers, will be informed and inspired daily by The Moscow Times.