MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) - The English-language Moscow News weekly hits newsstands on Friday with a fresh design that gives readers a new look of the Russian capital in all its diversity, the paper's editor said on Thursday.
"We want to look at Moscow from a whole new perspective, to challenge some preconceptions about Russia, about Moscow and about what a newspaper should be in these changing times," Till Wall said.
Wall, a British journalist who became editor-in-chief in February 2009, said the paper's priority is to provide comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the latest events in Russia and the world, stressing that the editorial staff has no agenda.
"We've made it completely editorially independent so that no subjects are off limits," Wall said.
He added that the paper would put a special focus on political struggles and political debate in Russia, also closely watching the impact of the ongoing economic crisis on various sections of society - from the so-called oligarchs to ordinary people.
"But at the same time we also want to have a fun newspaper which everyone in Moscow can enjoy, both Russians and expats," he said.
RIA Novosti editor-in-chief Svetlana Mironyuk believes that "the paper has acquired its own identity" and that it is now focused "on achieving concrete results."
She said the new-look Moscow News should give "a feel for the city - a city we love and hate, a city we run away from and then always want to come back to."
According to TNS Gallup Media, The Moscow News has a readership of 79,500 with a circulation of 45,000 copies.
The Moscow News trademark is owned by RIA Novosti.
