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Russian State Archive of Contemporary History

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ7382141
Source-derived summary

The Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI) (Russian: Российский государственный архив новейшей истории (РГАНИ)) is a large Russian state archive managed by Rosarkhiv, which preserves post-1952 documents of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was established in 1999 as the successor to the Center for Preservation of Contemporary Documentation (TsKhSD, Russian: Центр хранения современной документации (ЦХСД)), which acquired current records of the Communist Party nationalized after the failure of the Soviet coup attempt in 1991. A very large percentage of its files are still classified and many others are still difficult to access. In 1992 Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky worked in the archive and secretly scanned copies of some documents.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Russian State Archive of Contemporary History” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Russian, State and Contemporary.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1952, 1999, 1991, 1992—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Russian, State and Contemporary providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Russian State Archive of Contemporary History”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7382141. VIAF identifies the subject as 265300977. The Library of Congress control number is n00088957. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1999, 1991 and 1992.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
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  2. Expand the search: follow Russian State Archive of Contemporary History primary sources, Russian State Archive of Contemporary History archive and Russian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Russian State Archive of Contemporary History” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.