Ilyas Vasipov (1974—2016) was a Russian journalist, who worked for VGTRK, NTV, and 5TV. ^[1] He "influenced a whole generation of St. Petersburg journalists". ^[2]

Vasipov, according to his own words, before coming to television, published in Smena magazine in the late 80's. ^[3]

In 1998-2001, he worked for the NTV channel. Vasipov was in charge of the show Today in Saint-Petersburg ( Russian: Сегодня в СПб) and was the editor-in-chief of Segodnyachko-Piter [ ru]. ^[4] Later he worked on the information and analytical show Petersburg's hour ( Russian: Петербургский час), shot special reports for TRK Petersburg, and was engaged in documentary projects for it. ^[2]

In 2002-2004, Vasipov worked in Moscow for the Russia TV channel. He is one of the creators of the show Vesti. On Duty [ ru] ^[4] In 2004, Vasipov returned to St. Petersburg, where he worked for 5TV. He was editor-in-chief of Pulse newspaper. ^{[4] [5]}

On June 19, 2016, Vasipov was found dead in his apartment with no signs of violent death. He died of cardiopulmonary failure. ^{[4] [1] [6]}

In 2006-2008, Vasipov published a monthly newspaper 999 "for drinking intellectuals". The newspaper was published in A3 format and covered world and city news humorously. The name was due to the fact that a print edition with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies did not require official registration under Russian law. ^{[2] [7] [8]}

The first issue was published on July 13, 2006. ^[8] The next day, 999 was registered after all. A year later, the newspaper had a circulation of 5,000 copies. ^[9]

"999" touched on alcohol, music, literature, art, gender psychology, and other topics. ^[9]

Regular contributors included Alexander Lushin of Prepinaki [ ru] music band, punk journalist Vadim Sharapov, and Anatoly Gunitsky of Aquarium. ^[7] Italian and American journalists participated in the creation of the newspaper. ^[10] Among those who gave interviews were Boris Grebenshchikov and writer Tatyana Moskvina.

The newspaper was first distributed free of charge in a narrow circle of establishments, including the clubs Platform [ ru] and Griboedov. ^{[11] [9]} Then publishing house Woe from Wit (after the name of the classic tragedy) was established and there were plans (unrealized) to bring the circulation to 10,000 copies. ^[12]

The last issue came out in June 2008. ^[3]