ROSTA

// РОСТА // Российское телеграфное агентство // Rossiiskoe telegrafnoe agentstvo // Russian Telegraph Agency

ROSTA was formed in 1918 via the merger of the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) Telegraph Agency and the Soviet Press Bureau. ROSTA had a section called Agit-Rosta specializing in propaganda art. The telegraph agency utilized a cadre of artist collectives in Moscow, Petrograd and in other cities around the USSR to produce a unique poster that combined the functions of a newspaper, a magazine and an information bulletin. The posters were called Okna ROSTA (Rosta Window Posters) and, the Moscow branch alone produced over two million posters during the Russian Civil War. In 1925, operations at ROSTA were merged into a new entity called the Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union or, TASS (Telegrafnoe agentstvo Sovetskogo Soiuza).