Back in late March while the rest of Russia was still covered with snow, a gang of six PRAVDA mates went on a mission to the south of the country, right down to the Black sea. Having their minivan equipped with a trailer borrowed from Oleg Kompaniets’ dad, the guys left Moscow to hit the road and shoot their new video.
After five months of cold and snow you know it was such a good feeling to get out on the streets again. The guys covered a distance of 1500 km to reach the dry asphalt of the port city of Novorossiysk stopping on their way for a day in Voronezh and two days in Krasnodar.
After having spent 10 days on the trip PRAVDA completed their latest tour video and now you can check out those Russian street vibes from Pasha Sitko, Alexey Raizman, Ilya Usoltsev, Oleg Kompaniets, Anton Shebeko and Sergey Plaxienko right here.
PRAVDA (which means “truth” in Russian) is a crew of friends based in Moscow set on advancing BMX street culture in their home country and beyond. Since 2010 they have made two full-length BMX films, one of them they were filming for four years in Russia, Spain and Israel. For the past three years guys have been working on the third full-length video they are going to release in 2022.
The trip to the south of Russia was the third big BMX tour for PRAVDA in the past three years. The first one was an Israel tour with the Bespaliy brothers in the autumn of 2018 - they found the Middle East to be a very picturesque country for both for travelling and riding. After that six guys of the crew – Saro Grigoryan, Sergey Plaxienko, Alexey Raizman, Rodion Glezerov, Oleg Kompaniets and Andrey Vasilyev – spent February of 2019 in sunny Barcelona to shot yet another video.
From their trips PRAVDA come back not only with videos but also with zines. They publish three small printed issues as sentimental results of the trips. In addition to the photos, the magazines include travel diaries of the brightest moments of tours. PRAVDA certainly don't believe that Print is Dead.
Since 2016 PRAVDA have been holding their traditional street jam at the beginning of summer in Moscow called Street Fame. Everyone who wants to participate must stick to the dress code of white oversized t-shirt and four pegs. The crowd guided by a host follows along a pre-planned route which usually has four or five spots. Every trick made on a spot is awarded with a cash prize. At the end of the day at the after party crew announce the King of Street Fame title (the one who stood out most along the route) and they get the cash prize. This year more than 200 BMXers showed up.
Another jam that PRAVDA is known for is a Bumper Jam made together with the father of Russian BMX Alexander Sokolai in 2019 and 2021. Both times they built a unique obstacle integrated into an old American car and held a street jam on it.
In 2019 PRAVDA took part in a famous Russian streetwear brand show Faces&Laces dedicated to the history of subcultures. They presented the big stand about the history of BMX in Russia with truly unique artefacts: archive photos of Russian BMX fathers from the beginning of 2000s – Vladimir Kosyakov and Alexander Sokolai medals from the first competitions; autographs of the first foreign pro riders who visited Moscow; and digitized VHS cassettes with early 2000s riding.
To support their activity PRAVDA started their own streetwear brand . After a couple of years of developing the style of the merch suitable for BMX riders they designed a unique transforming framebag together with designer and BMXer Arthur Roark. It quickly sold out and PRAVDA made a re-stock of them.
This summer PRAVDA is about to release their collaboration collection together with St. Petersburg brand Anteater. In anticipation of it guys started a game available to participate for any BMXer in Russia. They made a wax with lines full of tricks written on it that riders have to perform and film. Rider who made the best lines will be invited to Moscow to participate in a big team video that is going to be shot soon. Other cool BMXers will get brand new merch.
On their way to supporting and developing Russian BMX culture PRAVDA have stayed true to being a crew of best friends and soulmates who still feel loyal and local to their Moscow scene roots.
FOR MORE INFO: pravdabmx.ru | @pravdabmx
