State-run news agency Itar-Tass has announced that it want to return to the name it used during the Soviet era, "Tass."
The organizing committee for the agency's 110th anniversary next year decided to return to the name, though the change will need to be approved by the news outlets owner, the Russian government, Rossiskaya Gazeta reported.
The agency was originally founded in 1904 as the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency, though during the early years of the Soviet Union is was reestablished as the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (the Russian acronym for which is Tass). The agency was a central source for foreign and domestic news during the Soviet period.
The "Itar" acronym in the agency's hyphenated name was added in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Information Telegraph Agency of Russia was established.
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