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Washington, D.C., June 8, 2000 -- Tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C.) the  Voice of America's Russian TV program, Window on the World, will air its first broadcast on Moscow-based Daryal TV.  Daryal TV, a new independent network, will carry Window on the World every Friday evening in Moscow and add it to its network in nine other Russian cities in the near future.

During the inaugural 30-minute program, host Yuri Dobrovolsky will examine the recent Clinton-Putin Summit, look at polio vaccination in Africa, and follow two Americans in Washington State who became Russian Orthodox monks. Each program will take a close look at an issue in the news, as well as feature material on American life and society, and examine people, places and events throughout the world.

"Expanding into TV will give us a wonderful opportunity to broaden our audience.  We will present stories that have a Russian connection," says Tom Gilfether, Chief of VOA's Russian Branch.  "A future program looks at a children's theater in Arlington, Virginia, run by two women who immigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia."

The producers of Window on the World will use stories from VOA's English-language program This Week and version them into Russian.  Two VOA Russian staffers have also been trained as video journalists and will shoot stories for the program. 

The Voice of America broadcasts news and information in 53 languages to an estimated audience of 91 million people each week.

For additional information, please contact the Office of External Affairs at (202) 619-2538.