AST (Russian: АСТ) is one of the largest book publishing companies in Russia,[2] headed by Oleg Bartenev (Олег Бартенев).

Among AST partners are publishing companies Astrel, Zebra E, Molodaya Gvardiya, CenterCom, bookstores Moscow and Biblio Globus and online shops, such as Ozon.ru.

In 1993 the company was divided into AST itself, headed by Andrey Gertsev, and AST-PRESS.

As of 2007, AST and its rival (later parent company) Eksmo together published approximately 30% of all Russian books.

[6] On April 19, 2012, the commercial subdivision of AST "Pyaty okean" filed for bankruptcy, as their debts exceeded 7.5 billion roubles.