WORLD : New Spokesman for Gorbachev
The editor-in-chief of a liberal Soviet news weekly has been appointed as the new spokesman for President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, it was announced today.
Vitaly Ignatenko, editor-in-chief of New Times magazine, was named assistant to the president and head of his press service, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said.
Ignatenko, who is in his late 40s, is considered a progressive and became editor-in-chief of New Times in 1986. He had earlier worked as a correspondent for Tass news agency.
Gerasimov said Ignatenko, a graduate of Moscow State University, will hold his first news conference on Wednesday.
He succeeds Arkady Maslennikov, a former correspondent for the Communist Party daily Pravda.
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