This week has been quite an emotional one for the BBC Russian team. On Monday we went to air with the first of our new daily ten-minute television news bulletins on the Russian IPTV station Dozhd TV (which translates as TV Rain). The broadcast came nearly a year after Russian Service shortwave and medium wave radio broadcasting ended.
The programmes bring viewers the latest international news, and the BBC's coverage of Russian stories. The bulletin is then available at bbcrussian.com.
It's a ground-breaking project in many ways. Firstly, as many of you will know, the Russian Service has had a significant budget cut which meant we had to make difficult decisions about what we could afford to do. We decided to concentrate on the internet as the sole method of delivery for all of our content including the remaining radio programmes.
Secondly because, in the normally expensive world of TV, we're using the latest technology to produce and deliver the bulletin through the internet.
And lastly because Dozhd is an innovative channel both in Russian and global terms. Non-aligned politically and independently funded, it is a mainly internet-based TV station. It is small, but with a growing number of views and a growing reputation.
The way the internet has developed in Russia over the past year makes me feel that the BBC has taken the right approach. Recent events have demonstrated the very important role the internet is playing in shaping how Russians receive and actually make news, as well as debate and discuss developments in Russia and around the world.
Russia has now overtaken Germany as the country with the highest number of unique online visitors - over 50 million. In terms of penetration, which currently stands at about half the adult population, it's predicted to reach 75% by 2020 and 90% ten years after that.
And here at bbcrussian.com we're experiencing a big growth in people coming to us, either directly or through partners, for BBC content.
Dozhd TV has become a very significant media player through the internet, but working with other broadcasters is not a first. The BBC does this around the world. And in Russia our radio broadcasts have at various times been carried by other broadcasters, while our online content is available to users of a number of Russian news websites. But this is the Russian Service's first foray into TV, and it's a first for the World Service in terms of the technological delivery of internet TV.
The fast take up of online technology and social media in Russia - and the fact that Russians are looking there for news, views and discussion not readily available elsewhere - is a fantastic incentive for the Russian Service to finding new ways to reach our audience.
I hope you enjoy the new bulletin, whether you watch it on Dozhd or bbcrussian.com.
Sarah Gibson is the editor of BBC Russian for the BBC World Service.
