The newspaper will initially be sold by subscription and at about 40 newsstands in hotels, supermarkets, trade centers and BP filling stations. An annual subscription will cost $599, while single copies will cost 90 rubles.
The newspaper, which is owned by The New York Times Co., will have The Moscow Times logo on its front page and a copy of The Moscow Times inserted inside.
"What we are going to offer to our readers is the full IHT available early morning on their doorstep," IHT senior vice president Didier Brun said by telephone Wednesday from Paris, where the newspaper has its headquarters.
Maxine Maters, the publisher of The Moscow Times, said existing Moscow Times subscribers would have the option of continuing their subscriptions or signing up for a new package with the IHT. Starting next year, The Moscow Times will be offered for subscription only with the IHT.
Maters declined to put a price tag on start-up costs for the IHT's Russian launch or to say how the two newspapers would share revenues.
The launch was originally scheduled for April 2005 but was delayed mainly due to technical difficulties in securing a distribution permit, Brun said.
The permit was issued last fall, but the two newspapers decided to launch the IHT in Moscow after the New Year, he and Maters said.
The IHT's initial circulation will be 2,000 copies. The paper currently flies in 400 copies per day to subscribers. The Moscow Times' circulation is 35,000.
For IHT, the linkup with The Moscow Times will be the ninth agreement a with local newspaper. In Greece the IHT partners with Kathimerini; in Israel with Haaretz; in Spain with El Pais; in Japan with Asahi Shimbun; in Thailand with Manager Media Group, publisher of Phujadkarn; and in 10 Middle East countries with The Daily Star.
The only other English-language international newspaper to publish in Russia is The New York Times, which has a weekly edition inserted in Izvestia.
Maters said the Izvestia publication -- which, like the IHT, answers to The New York Times Co. -- was not a competitor because it was a weekly with feature stories rather than breaking news.
The Moscow Times is owned by Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, which also publishes the newspapers Vedomosti, a joint project with the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, and The St. Petersburg Times. It is also the largest publisher of glossy magazines in Russia. Independent Media is 100 percent owned by Finnish publishing giant SanomaWSOY Group.
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