The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) is proud to present this Internet project for Russia entitled, “Russian Internet: On the Eve of Great
Changes.” Since the early 1990s, IREX has moved to take advantage of the new
openness in the former Soviet region and expand its traditional emphasis on building
human networks by promoting electronic communication throughout Eurasia. Vast
distances, compounded by the deteriorating infrastructure of existing mail, telephone,
fax, and other traditional means of communication, make the Internet an ideal
medium to overcome the historical isolation of Soviet scholars, students, and business
people and increase communication among the emerging civil society.
This book has been published under the “Consortium for the Humanities and Social
Sciences” project, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This edition,
available in Russian from the IREX/Russia website (http://www.irex.ru), chronicles
the dramatic changes in the growth of the Internet in Russia from 1990-1999. With
information collected from more than 200 sources, the historical development of this
essential tool, and valuable site addresses of leading commercial, educational, and
non-commercial organizations, has now been made available for the everyday user.
