MSN comes to Russia

Kommersant.com announced yesterday that MSN is set to enter another market: Russia. According to the article, content for MSN Russia will be provided by Kommersant, Reuters, and AP. Geoff Sutton, the Chief Manager of MSN for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said they expect MSN Russia to become the fourth-largest global revenue source for the Russian advertising market in the coming years.

What strikes me as odd is how long MSN has waited to make its move into the Russian portal market. Russia is a very large market, and they've already been actively pursuing their Windows Live strategy there. You may recall that last July, Windows Live launched a Russian promotional site. Additionally, Windows Live Mail is available in Russian.

[http://www.liveside.net/blogs/main/archive/2006/05/20/Windows-Live-Mail-experiences-issues-_2D00_-Rolled-back-to-M5.aspx]