Vitaly Ignatenko

Graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in journalism, he worked for the Komsomolskaya Pravda and Novoye Vremya newspapers in the 1980s.^[1][2] From 1990 to 1991 he served as the press secretary of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.^[3]

On June 2, 1995, Ignatenko was appointed Deputy Chairman of Government of the Russian Federation for media affairs. He worked in coordination with fellow deputy chairman Sergei Shakhrai.^[4] In 1997, during the Tajikistani Civil War, he was in contact with a local warlord to organize the release of foreign hostages.^[5][6]

In September 2012 Ignatenko was replaced as head of ITAR-TASS news agency.^[7]

He is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador^[1] and President of the World Association of Russian Press.^[8]

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  With Alexander Shokhin in State Duma, 10 February 1998
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  With Mintimer Shaimiev, 18 November 2006
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  With Zilya Valeeva, 26 June 2007
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  On X World Congress of Russian Press, 11 June 2008
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  With Dmitry Medvedev on Gorki-9, 2 September 2009
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  Presentation of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class, 28 July 2011
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  Presentation of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class, 2 February 2022
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  With Mikhail Mishustin, 11 January 2024

• Pavel, Palazchenko (2010). My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze: The Memoir of a Soviet Interpreter. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0271040929.