Petrograd Telegraph Agency PTA

beginning in 1914, the name of the Russian news agency, which had previously been known as the St. Petersburg Telegraph Agency (founded in 1904). The Petrograd Telegraph Agency supplied the Russian press with news of domestic and international affairs and had correspondents in many cities in Russia and abroad.

In the first days of the October Revolution of 1917, the Press Bureau of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee did the same work as the Petrograd Telegraph Agency. Under a decree issued on Nov. 18 (Dec. 1), 1917, by the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR, the Petrograd Telegraph Agency was transformed into the Central News Agency of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR. In accordance with the Sept. 7, 1918, decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Press Bureau merged with the Central News Agency. The new institution was named the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA).