The Lenta.doc Archive is a joint project by RIMA and Meduza. We are restoring and preserving a unique collection of documentary videos originally released in 2013–2014 as part of Lenta.doc — a special section on the website of Lenta.ru.

Lenta.doc grew out of the documentary series The Term, created by directors Alexander Rastorguev, Pavel Kostomarov, and journalist Alexey Pivovarov. That project laid the foundations for a new genre — documentary news: raw, vulnerable, and deeply subjective cinema about events unfolding in real time.

The Lenta.doc project emerged at a pivotal moment—after the winter protests of 2011–2012, amid mounting pressure on independent media and civil society in Russia. In 2014, during the annexation of Crimea, Lenta.ru came under harsh external pressure by the authorities: editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko was dismissed, and almost the entire newsroom resigned in solidarity. Timchenko and her team went on to found a new independent outlet — Meduza.

After Lenta.ru was dismantled, the Lenta.doc section disappeared from its website along with all the videos. Only 39 clips survived on the official YouTube channel. Now, RIMA and Meduza are reopening the Lenta.doc archive.

Our project coincides with the seventh anniversary of the death of Alexander Rastorguev. On July 30, 2018, Rastorguev, journalist Orkhan Djemal, and cameraman Kirill Radchenko were killed in the Central African Republic while filming a documentary about the Wagner Group.

This project is, among other things, a tribute to Alexander and his legacy.

The surviving Lenta.doc archive currently contains 309 videos.

In total, around 1,600 videos were produced as part of the project. The exact number is unknown: some have been lost, others survive in the personal collections of the project’s participants. We are working to gather everything that can still be found.

These videos form a chronicle of 2013-2014 – a turning point in Russia’s recent history. The authors of Lenta.doc didn’t just report the news; they helped viewers see events from the inside, capturing participants at the closest possible range. The camera went everywhere: into streets and police vans, apartments and courtrooms, festivals and stairwells.

Main themes:

• The aftermath of the 2011–2012 protest movement, trials, and rallies following the “Bolotnaya case”;
• The Kirovles case and Alexei Navalny as a new opposition leader;
• Protests and marches in defense of LGBTQ+ rights, amid the adoption of Russia’s first “anti-LGBT propaganda” law;
• The “Russian Marches” and the nationalist movement;
• The Pussy Riot case;
• And the Euromaidan events in Ukraine.

And beyond that – mayoral campaigns, repression and protest, the funeral of director Alexei Balabanov, the riots in Biryulyovo, parade rehearsals, Moscow walking tours, festivals, graduation ceremonies in the Kremlin, and the textures of everyday life: people in the streets, in queues and cafés. Kissing couples. Children playing. A cow walking along the highway. Faces and their reactions to the times as seen and recorded by the filmmakers of Lenta.doc.

During the protest winter of 2011–2012, journalist Alexey Pivovarov came up with the idea of making a documentary about Russia’s new civic movement and the emerging opposition leaders. He invited directors Pavel Kostomarov and Alexander Rastorguev to join him. This is how Term (Srok) was born. Instead of producing a traditional documentary film, the authors began uploading short fragments online almost in real time, inventing a new genre on the fly: documentary news. The Term became an alternative to official, state-propaganda reporting.

At the end of 2012, Pavel Kostomarov was summoned for questioning in connection with the “Bolotnaya Square case” (he had been filming the May 6 protests for Term). As a result, the project had to be suspended. The authors issued a statement to their audience:

The recent events related to the interrogation of Pavel Kostomarov and the search of his home have seriously damaged our project, violating one of the fundamental principles of quality documentary filmmaking: the author must not become a participant in the events.

Therefore, the online project The Term is temporarily suspended. We will inform you shortly about its future and the plans of its creators.

In 2013, the creators of Term began collaborating with Lenta.ru, Russia’s leading online publication at the time. A new section 1 – Lenta.doc 1– was launched on the site. Documentary videos were published almost daily.

A large team of documentarians formed around the project: Evgenia Ostanina, Ksenia Elyan, Zosya Rodkevich, Antoine Cattin, Askold Kurov, Beata Bubents, Vladimir Romensky, Elena Khoreva, Maria Pavlova, and others. They filmed in different cities, at rallies, inside police vans, and on the streets, wherever the story took them.

Although the Lenta.doc team managed to produce more than 1,500 videos, the project was short-lived. Amid the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, the Kremlin moved to finish off Russia’s independent media. Galina Timchenko, who had led Lenta.ru since 2004, was dismissed and replaced with a government-loyal editor. The entire Lenta newsroom resigned in solidarity with her. Eight months later, they launched a new project, Meduza.

Under its new management, Lenta.ru erased the Lenta.doc archive.

The core of the archive consists of 242 original videos preserved on the personal drive of Galina Timchenko. The RIMA team processed these materials, catalogued them, and reconstructed their chronology and context. In parallel, RIMA researchers are manually locating and systematizing everything that survives on YouTube, in the personal collections of former staff and collaborators, and in open access online.

We are deeply grateful to everyone helping us preserve this memory:

• The co-authors of The Term and Lenta.doc projects;
• Evgeniya Ostanina, widow of Alexander Rastorguev;
• Elena Khoreva, Kirill Kulagin, Andrey Kiselev, Daria Danilova, Maria Pavlova, and all the friends and colleagues of Alexander Rastorguev for their support;
• Archivist and researcher Katerina Sycheva for her work sorting the archive;
• Egor Kirillov for assistance with editing and post-production;
• And everyone who supports the idea of a public archive – our volunteers and colleagues.

We will continue to expand the archive and make it more accessible.