A magazine with Russian flair to be distributed in Staten Island Advance

Citizens Magazine, a Staten Island-based newspaper that focuses on the Russian-American community here and in Brooklyn, will be distributed beginning Feb. 26 as a supplement in the Staten Island Sunday Advance.

A monthly English-language publication, Citizens, which made its debut in 2010, reports on local news and politics, along with national and world affairs.

It also presents opinion columns and a variety of feature stories. It is published by a group of Island-based Russian community members headed by Arkadiy Fridman, publisher of Citizens. Ilya Galak is the magazine's editor.

"We are pleased to add Citizens Magazine to our Sunday package each month," said Caroline Harrison, publisher of the Advance. "Our goal is to bring news to our community, of course, but also bring together the many communities on Staten Island. Sharing this publication produced by our Russian neighbors is a way for us to achieve that goal."

Citing the influx locally over the past two decades of up to 50,000 Russian-Americans, Fridman said, "We are trying to introduce both communities to each other -- old citizens and new citizens." Fridman, who also heads the non-profit

Staten Island Community Center, which operates day care and after-school programs, came to the United States in 1992 and settled with his family in Dongan Hills.

He views Citizens Magazine, which contains ads for such Russian-oriented businesses as the popular NetCost Market, as a way to bridge social and economic differences.

For more information about the publication, contact citizens26@gmail.com or call (718) 619-5891.