The news agency was founded on July 10, 1925 (March 20, 1925), the Soviet news agency TASS (InformationTelegraphicAgencyofRussia-TASS), the state news agency of Russia, the foreign abbreviation ITAR-TASS. TASS was formerly the state news agency of the Soviet Union, one of the international news agencies. The former was founded on November 18, 1917 with the Russian St. Petersburg news agency. In 1918, the news agency was merged with the press agency of the Central Executive Committee of the Russian Federation, named the Russian Communications Union, abbreviated as Rosta. On July 10, 1925, the company was renamed TASS. The company was headquartered in Moscow. In 1990, there were 5,000 employees, more than 80 branches and journalist stations, more than 500 journalists, and the