video-host
RuTube
Russia's main video host, with tens of millions of videos; our research found roughly a 4% overlap with YouTube reuploads. Search works on the website, though its informal search endpoint rate-limits and throws captchas at bursts of automated traffic. Worth checking when a Russian-language or Russia-related video has vanished from YouTube.
No programmatic check, opens the archive’s own search.
Why it’s useful & how it works
RuTube is Russia's primary domestic video platform and a natural first stop when a Russian-language video has vanished from YouTube. It grew sharply after YouTube speeds were throttled in Russia from mid-2024, and research on reupload patterns found roughly a 4% overlap with YouTube content. You can search it on the website; the informal search endpoint rate-limits quickly under sustained automated queries and challenges automated visitors with captchas, so Echo links you to the site and you run the search from there in your browser.
What’s inside
Tens of millions of videos, with a monthly audience in Russia exceeding 77 million users as of early 2025. Total video count is not publicly disclosed.
API access
informal /api/search/video/?query= (rate-limited; captcha on bursts)
What we measured
Our own probes, not the archive’s own claims. Re-run periodically; every reading below is dated.
Reachability
- Direct request
- Responded HTTP 200 1.3 s
- Through a datacenter proxy
- Responded HTTP 200 2.1 s
- API, direct
- Responded HTTP 200 748 ms
- API, through a proxy
- Responded HTTP 200 1 s
Reachability measured 2026-08-22.
Access
May require solving a captcha before it responds.