Looking at the local press until the end of the first half of the 19th century we attest the fact that the Russian imperial press was exclusively diffused in Bessarabia. The most spread newspapers were the tribunes – Санкт Петербургские Ведомости (Sankt Peterburgskije Vedomosti) and Московские Ведомости (Moskovskije Vedomosti). The tsarist clerks of all levels were reading Nicolae Greci’s pro-governmental paper – Северная Пчела (Severnaja Pčela). After 1830 the local archives have conserved sufficient evidences attesting the diffusion of special publications, with a mainly economical or informative character sponsored by authorities. Different departments and ministers were among the editors of these publications. The later were commissioned with the help of local administration to diffuse it in province. Many addresses and circulars registered in the Fond of Governor’s Office from Bessarabia stay as evidence to it. Also, Odessa’s periodical publications were largely spread in province starting with the third decade of the 19th century. The literary periodicals were especially popular, as for example Одесский Aльманах (Odesskij Al’manakh) whose pages contained information about Bessarabia.

The private press which never got the support of imperial authorities was also spread in the province. The information regarding its diffusion is attested by some private or governmental library catalogues only. Archival documents are concise and contradictory. The investigation of imperial press spread in province needs an approach from the perspective of a critical synthesis of data gathered from different sources and collections. The censorship and its impact on imperial press spread in Bessarabia can be traced especially by private editions. The main source of available data on the issue of imperial press diffused in province is the fond of military/civil Governor’s Office of Bessarabia. Or, such a documentation context is not favorable to our research and needs to be explained why.

• First, because it offers a unilateral perspective on the issue of diffusion of Russian press in province: a history from imperial standpoint, precisely from of the imperial clerk either from the capital Sankt-Petersburg or from Bessarabia.
• Second, local archives are not complete! Or, the issue of diffusion of imperial press in Bessarabia in the 19th century, using the archival resources can be traced only partially.

We will never get to know how the diffusion of the imperial press took place when it came to particular subscription; which were the preferences of the Bessarabian public with written press in the first half of the 19th century before the emergence of the official Bessarabian press (1854, July 17). Also, it is difficult to follow the activity of censorship institutions on imperial press from the first half of the 19th century. However, the arguments brought in discussion offer a unique opportunity to see “how was done” or, more exactly, “how was attempted to be done” the diffusion of official press in province; what was the mechanism of the imperial machinery in this direction? The article is an attempt to illustrate, based on documents, the investigated issue as objectively possible.