Ogonyok

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Ogonyok (Russian: Огонёк, which means "little flame") is one of the oldest Russian weekly illustrated magazines, issued since December 21 [O.S. December 9] 1899. It was re-established in the Soviet Union in 1923 by Mikhail Koltsov.

The colour magazine reached the pinnacle of its popularity in the Perestroika years, when its editor-in-chief Vitaly Korotich "was guiding Ogonyok to a pro-American and pro-capitalist position".[1] Those years are the subject matter of the book "Small Fires: Letters From the Soviet People to Ogonyok Magazine 1987-1990" (Summit Books, NY, 1990) selected and edited by Christopher Cerf, Marina Albee and with an introduction by Korotich.

In the early 1990s, Ogonyok was owned by Boris Berezovsky and its popularity started to decline. Viktor Loshak, the former editor of Moskovskiye Novosti, took over as editor in 2003. As of 2004^[update] it was issued by the Russian OVA-PRESS (ОВА-ПРЕСС) publishing house. At the height of the 2008–2009 Russian financial crisis, in January 2009, the publication was suspended due to an ownership change.[2]

After a four-month break, publication of Ogonyok has been resumed on May 18, 2009 by Kommersant publishing group. The first issue published by Kommersant is the 5079-th Ogonyok since 1899.^[1]