Russia to issue new Great Russian Encyclopaedia

The first volume of the Great Russian Encyclopaedia, which will be devoted to modern Russia, will be published early in 2005, Yury Osipov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said following a meeting of the editorial council.

The council is composed of 78 academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences and is headed by Mr Osipov.

The council resolved to set up 10 editorial sections to deal with different areas of knowledge.

Mr Osipov said this 30-volume edition must be a model of profoundness, trustworthiness and scientific interest, a model for editions of encyclopaedic dictionaries to be issued in the first half of the 21st century.

The whole of 30 volumes are expected to be published within 10 years, with an average of 3 volumes to be published a year. "Then the encyclopaedia will have to be re-issued again, since the world and our knowledge of it will certainly change," said Yury Osipov.