Komsomolskaya Pravda (Russian: Комсомольская правда;
lit.'
Komsomol Truth') is a daily Russian
tabloid newspaper[1] that was founded in 1925.[2] Its name is in reference to the official Soviet newspaper Pravda 'Truth'.
The paper's largest owner is the son of the founder of the Baltic Media Group, Sergei Rudnov, who indirectly controls 45%.[4] Until 2011, it was owned by Media Partner, which in turn was owned by ESN Group (Евросевернефть), an energy company led by
Grigory Berezkin.[5] In December 2000 the Norwegian media company
A-Pressen bought 25 percent plus one share of the paper.[6] It is published in tabloid format by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" (Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House).[7]
Komsomolskaya Pravda reached its highest circulation in 1990 when it sold almost 22 million daily copies.[8] In 2001 it was the ninth-top European newspaper with a circulation of 785,000 copies.[7] It was the top-selling newspaper in Russia in 2006 with daily circulation ranging from 700,000 to 3.1 million copies.[1] Its March 2008 circulation, certified by the NCS, was 660,000 copies[9] and it was the most read paper in the country based on the findings by the
TNS Gallup Media.[10] In the same year the online version of the paper was also the most visited news website.[10]
In January 2015 a front-page article in Komsomolskaya Pravda suggested that the United States had orchestrated the
Charlie Hebdo shooting.[11]
In May 2017, columnist Alisa Titko went viral for writing that the English city of
Manchester was "full of fat people" and that she found the sight of same-sex love "disgusting".[12][13][14]
In 2021, the tabloid published an article in which former
Kontinental Hockey League coach
Andrei Nazarov accused
New York Rangers winger
Artemi Panarin of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old Latvian woman in
Riga. The team released a statement condemning the allegations as a "fabrication" and “intimidation tactic” against Panarin after speaking out against “recent political events”, most notably expressing his support for
Russian opposition leaderAlexei Navalny, who was detained upon return to Russia from Germany.[15][16]
Editors in chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda
The newspaper's editors in chief, in reverse chronological order, have been:
A number of similar, but independently owned, newspapers can be found in other member or associate-member states of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS):