The collection contains papers relating to the establishment of the Leningrad Popular front in the late 1980s, the elections to the Congress of People's Deputies in 1989, in which Patiev was actively involved, and the elections to the Leningrad Municipal Council in 1990, in which he was elected as a deputy. Both of these elections are significant in Soviet history, and Patiev's ample files of correspondence, notes, press, and campaign materials throw important light on the democratic processes at work during Perestroika.

The papers reflect Patiev's involvement with cultural projects through period documents as well as later recollections of particularly significant events. These cultural projects, especially the struggle to preserve architectural landmarks and historical monuments, were actually at the root of the emergence of the democratic movement in Leningrad during the 1980s. The appearance of new parties and movements in Leningrad/St. Petersburg in the early 1990s is also well documented in Patiev's papers.

Feb 15, 2007 - Leningrad. For a massive length of border from Leningrad to Vladivostok, it was. The expression Eto ne telefonnyi razgovor (“This is not a telephone con. Spravochnik (Moscow: Zvenia Memorial, 2010), p.