A unique collection of documentary videos from the Lenta.doc project has been restored and made publicly accessible, offering a rare glimpse into some of the most significant moments of Russia’s recent history. The archive includes footage of Alexei Navalny and the fabricated “Kirovles” case, the mass protests on Bolotnaya Square, the Pussy Riot trial, and other landmark events of 2013–2014.
Lenta.doc was originally produced for the independent news outlet Lenta.ru by filmmakers Alexander Rastorguev and Pavel Kostomarov together with journalist Alexei Pivovarov. After the newsroom was purged in 2014, the new management deleted the entire section with its videos. Several years later, Alexander Rastorguev was killed while filming an investigation about the Wagner Group in Africa.
Now, thanks to a joint effort by Meduza and RIMA (a project dedicated to preserving the heritage of Russian-language media), the archive has been brought back online — as a tribute both to Rastorguev and to a Russia that no longer exists.
So far, 240 videos have been published. They survived thanks to the personal hard drive of former Lenta.ru editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko. Archivists at RIMA digitized the materials, catalogued them, and restored their chronology and context. For ease of navigation, the videos are organized into thematic collections.
The archive features:
- Trials and protests following the “Bolotnaya case,” including street rallies, police violence, and court hearings.
- The “Kirovles” case and Alexei Navalny’s mayoral campaign.
- Marches for LGBTQ+ rights during the passage of Russia’s first “gay propaganda” law, with footage of solo pickets, detentions, and confrontations with provocateurs.
- Pussy Riot’s performance in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, their subsequent trial, Maria Alyokhina’s interviews, Pyotr Verzilov’s prison visit, and the group’s reunion after release.
- Coverage of Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests and other pivotal events of 2013–2014.
For more information about the archive and its creators, see Meduza and visit the Lenta.doc archive.