List of Russians
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This is a list of people associated with Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russia of today. For a long time Russia has been a multinational country, and many people of different nationalities contributed to its culture, to its glory, and to its sorrow. They may be ethnic Georgians (like Stalin), Jews (like Trotsky), Poles (like Vaslav Nijinsky), Tatars (like Rudolf Nureyev), Armenians (like Aram Katchaturian) Ukrainians (like Nikolai Gogol), Germans (like Catherine the Great)... Sometimes we don't know their exact ancestry. Sometimes their formal nationality was written down at random or for political or other reasons. They may have emigrated or immigrated, and thus may appear in other "Lists of...", but nevertheless their names are linked to the words "Russia", "Russian".
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Art
Architects
Artists
- Nikolay Andreyev (1873-1932), sculptor, graphic artist and stage designer
- Mikhail Anikushin (1917), sculptor
- Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva (1858-1884, painter
- Alexandre Benois (1870-1960), seminal influence on modern design
- Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin, illustrator
- Marc Chagall (1887-1985), painter
- Pavel Chistyakov (1832-1919), painter, Russian teacher
- Dionisy, medieval icon-painter
- Aleksandra Ekster (1882-1949), painter, one of the founders of Art Deco
- Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920), jewellery designer
- Feofan Grek, medieval icon-painter
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), first abstract painter
- Alexander V. Kuprin (1880-1960), painter
- Isaac Levitan (1860-1900), landscape painter
- Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi, (1837-1887), painter and the art critic
- Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935), suprematist painter, Black square
- Vera Mukhina (1889-1953), sculptress
- Alexander Nikulin (1878-1945), painter
- Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939), painter
- Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), landscape painter
- Serge Poliakoff (1900-1969), painter
- Liubov Popova (1889-1924), cubist, abstract painter
- Prokhor, medieval icon-painter
- Ilya Repin (1844-1930), painter
- Aleksandr Rodchenko (1891-1956), designer, constructivist painter
- Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), painter
- Andrei Rublev (circa 1360-1430), medieval icon-painter
- Zinaida Serebryakova (1884-1967), painter of female nudes
- Valentin Serov (1865-1911), painter
- Vladimir Tatlin (1885 - 1953), painter and architect.
- Vasily Tropinin (1776-1857), painter
- Ivan Vishnyakov (1699-1761), painter
- Apollinary Vasnetsov (1856-1933), painter
- Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), painter
Authors
See also List of Russian authors, which lists authors who wrote in Russian language.
A-E
- Boris Akunin (b. 1956), author, essayist, translator, literary critic
- Gennadiy Aygi (b. 1934), author, translator
- Aleksandr Bek (1903-1972), author
- Andrey Bely (1880-1934), poet and author, Petersburg
- Alexander Belyayev (1884-1942), science fiction author
- Isaac Babel (1894-1940), author
- Vissarion Belinsky (1811-1848), writer, literary critic and philosopher
- Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) "The Secret Doctrine", "Isis Unveiled"
- Valery Bryusov (1873–1924), poet
- Vladimir Bukovsky (b. 1942), writer and dissident
- Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940), playwright and author, Master and Margarita
- Kir Bulychev (1934-2003), science fiction author
- Ivan Bunin (1870-1953), first Russian Nobel Prize Winner
- Anton Chekhov (1860-1904),short stories author and playwright, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull
- Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889), writer, journalist, politician
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment
- Ilya Ehrenburg (1891-1947), novelist and WWII war correspondent
- Chinghiz Aitmatov, author
- Anna Akhmatova, poet
- Bella Akhmadulina, poet
- Sergei Aksakov, author
- Mark Aldanov
- Sholom Aleichem, author
- Leonid Andreyev
- Innokenty Annensky, poet
- Mikhail Artsybashev, author
- Mikhail Bakhtin
- Konstantin Balmont, poet
- Evgeny Baratynsky, poet
- Konstantin Batyushkov, poet
- Pavel Bazhov, fair tales author
- Aleksandr Bek, author
- Olga Bergolts, poet
- Aleksandr Blok, poet
- Osip Maximovich Brik
- Joseph Brodsky, poet and esseyist
- Kir Bulychev
- Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin
- Anton Chekhov
- Sasha Cherny
- Korney Chukovsky
- Denis Davydov
- Gavrila Derzhavin
- Nikolay Dobrolyubov
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Sergei Dovlatov
- Yanka Dyagileva
- Ivan Efremov
- Ilya Ehrenburg
- Venedikt Erofeev
- Viktor Erofeev (Victor Erofeev)
- Pyotr Ershov
- Sergei Esenin
F-R
- Arkady Gaidar (1904-1941)
- Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), author, Dead Souls
- Aleksandr Griboyedov (1795-1828), writer, statesman, Woe from Wit
- Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891), Oblomov
- Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), novelist, My Universities
- Lev Gumilyov (Lev Gumilev)
- Fazil Iskander, (b. 1929), novelist
- Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), poet, author and painter
- Nikolai Karamzin (1766-1826), poet, author, historian
- Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895), storyteller, novelist, and journalist
- Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765), linguistic reformer
- Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), wrote first in Russian, then in English, author of Lolita
- Nikolai Ogaryov (1813-1877)
- Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), was not permitted by USSR to accept the Nobel Prize, Doctor Zhivago
- Viktor Pelevin (b. 1962), novelist
- Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837), the greatest Russian poet, novelist
- Alexander Radishchev (1749-1802), social critic
- Ayn Rand (1905-1982), American novelist and philosopher born in St. Petersburg, Russia
- Helena Roerich (1879-1949)
- Konstantin Fedin
- Afanasy Fet
- Denis Fonvizin
- Arkady Gaydar
- Vladimir Gilyarovsky
- Lydia Ginzburg
- Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg
- Zinaida Gippius
- Nikolai Gogol
- Ivan Goncharov
- Maxim Gorky
- Boris Grebenshchikov
- Alexander Griboedov
- Dmitry Grigorovich
- Alexandr Grin
- Vasily Grossman
- Igor Guberman
- Lev Gumilyov
- Nikolay Gumilyov
- Alexander Herzen
- Ilya Ilf
- Fazil Iskander
- Vsevolod Ivanov
- Dmitri Kantemir
- Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin
- Lev Kassil
- Valentin Katayev
- Daniil Kharms
- Velimir Khlebnikov
- Vladislav Khodasevich
- Lev Kopelev
- Vladimir Korolenko
- Sergey Kozlov
- Ivan Krylov
- Aleksandr Kuprin
- Lazar Lagin
- Peter Lavrovitch Lavrov, (1823-1900) socialist and revolutionist
- Leonid Leonov
- Michail Lermontov
- Nikolai Leskov
- Eduard Limonov
- Mikhail Lomonosov
- Nadezhda Mandelstam
- Osip Mandelstam
- Alexandra Marinina
- Vladimir Mayakovsky
- Apollon Maykov
- Dmitriy Merezhkovsky
- Semen Nadson
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Alexandr Nekrasov
- Nikolay Nosov
- Vladimir Obruchev
- Vladimir Odoevsky
- Nikolai Ogaryov
- Yuri Olesha
- Alexandr Ostrovsky
- Nikolai Ostrovsky
- Boris Pasternak
- Konstantin Paustovsky
- Victor Pelevin
- Yakov Perelman
- Evgeny Petrov
- Boris Pilnyak
- Dmitri Pisarev
- Aleksey Pisemsky
- Andrei Platonov
- Yakov Polonsky
- Nikolay Pomyalovsky
- Mikhail Prishvin
- Kozma Prutkov
- Alexander Pushkin
- Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev
- Valentin Rasputin
- Irina Ratushinskaya
S-Z
- Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982), author of tales about Gulag
- Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889), novelist
- Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918), Nobel Prize for Literature
- Viktor Suvorov (b. 1947)
- Aleksei Tolstoy (1882-1945), novelist
- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) War and Peace, Anna Karenina
- Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), author of We
- Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
- Alexander Serafimovich
- Igor Severyanin
- Varlam Shalamov
- Boyan Shiryanov
- Mikhail Shishkin
- Mikhail Sholokhov
- Konstantin Simonov
- Andrei Sinyavsky
- Boris Slutsky
- Fyodor Sologub
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Alexandr Sorokin
- Boris and Arkady Strugatsky
- Aleksandr Petrovich Sumarokov
- Viktor Suvorov
- Nadezhda Teffi
- Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
- Aleksey Nikolaevich Tolstoy
- Leo Tolstoy
- Tatyana Tolstaya
- Vasily Trediakovsky
- Marina Tsvetaeva
- Ivan Turgenev
- Aleksandr Tvardovsky
- Fyodor Tyutchev
- Lyudmila Ulitskaya
- Maxisimilian Voloshin
- Vladimir Voinovich
- Michail Weller
- Nicholas Yermakov
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko
- Nikolay Zabolotsky
- Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Iuliia Zhádovskaia
- Vasily Zhukovsky
- Mikhail Zoshchenko
Musicians and Composers
A-O
- Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), composer
- Fyodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), opera singer, bass
- Cesar Cui (1835-1918)
- Valery Gergiev (1953), pianist, conductor
- Emil Gilels (1916-1985), pianist
- Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936), composer
- Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956), composer
- Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), composer of Russlan and Ludmilla
- Nikolai Golovanov (1891-1953), conductor
- Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989), pianist
- Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
- Aram Katchaturian (1903-1978)
- Lena Katina (b. 1984), singer
- Yulia Volkova (b. 1985), singer
- Tikhon Khrennikov (b. 1913), composer
- Kyril Kondrashin (1914-1981), conductor
- Leonid Kogan (1924-1982), violinist
- Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), composer, pianist
- Viktoria Mullova (1959), violinist
- Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881), composer of Boris Godunov, Pictures at an Exhibition
- David Oistrakh (1908-1974), violinist
- Igor Oistrakh (b. 1931), violinist
P-Z
- Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), composer
- Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
- Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), pianist
- Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer
- Mstislav Rostropovich (b. 1927), cellist and conductor
- Anton Rubinstein, pianist, composer
- Nikolai Rubinstein (1835-1881), pianist, conductor and composer
- Vasily Ilyich Safonov (1852-1918), composer and music educator
- Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), composer
- Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915), composer and pianist
- Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), composer
- Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), composer
- Sergey Taneyev (1856-1915), composer
- Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), composer
- Grigory Vasilyevich (1915-1998), composer
- Arcadi Volodos, pianist
- Vyacheslav Mescherin (-1995), Synthesizer music composer, audio engineer
Performing Arts
- Mikhail Baryshnikov (b. 1948), ballet dancer
- Sergei Bodrov, filmmaker
- Sergei Bodrov Jr., actor
- Sergei Bondarchuk (1920-1994), film director
- Boris Bruinov (1922-1997), actor
- Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929), ballet impresario
- Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), film director
- Michel Fokine (1880-1942), choreographer, dancer
- Lila Kedrova (1918-2000), actress
- Nikita Mikhalkov (b. 1945), filmmaker and politician
- Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet-Yiddish actor
- Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky (1890-1950), ballet dancer, choreographer
- Ivan Novikoff (1899-2002), ballet master
- Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993), ballet dancer
- Lubov Orlova (1902-1975), actress
- Anna Pavlova (1882-1931), ballerina
- Alexander Ptushko (1900-1973), animation & film director
- Veniamin Smekhov, actor
- Konstantin Stanislavsky (1868-1938), actor
- Natalie Wood (1938-1981), actress
- Galina Ulanova (1910-1988), ballerina
Poets
(who wrote much of their poetry in the Russian language, see List of Russian language poets)
Cosmonauts
A-N
- Yuri Artyukhin
- Pavel Belyayev (1925-1970)
- Georgi Beregovoi (1921-1995)
- Valery Bykovsky
- Lev Demin
- Georgi Dobrovolski
- Vladimir Dzhanibekov
- Konstantin Feoktistov
- Anatoli Filipchenko
- Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), first human in space
- Viktor Gorbatko
- Georgi Grechko
- Aleksei Gubarev
- Alexandr Kaleri
- Yevgeny Khrunov
- Pyotr Klimuk
- Vladimir Komarov
- Valeri Kubasov
- Vasili Lazarev
- Valentin Lebedev
- Aleksei Leonov
- Oleg Makarov
- Andrian Nikolayev (1929-2004)
P-Z
- Viktor Patsayev
- Pavel Popovich
- Nikolai Rukavishnikov
- Gennadi Sarafanov
- Svetlana Savitskaya, second woman in space
- Vladimir Shatalov
- Georgi Shonin
- Valentina Tereshkova (b. 1937), first woman in space
- Gherman Titov
- Vladislav Volkov
- Boris Volynov
- Boris Yegorov
- Aleksei Yeliseyev
- Vitali Zholobov
Explorers
- Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen, the Russian officer who discovered Antarctica
- Vitus Bering (1681-1741), explorer of north-western and south-western Alaska
- Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnev (circa 1605-1673), explorer of north-eastern Asia
- Ivan Fedorov, explorer of north-western Alaska
- Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, explorer of Mongolia and Tibet
- Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern, the first Russian to circumnavigate the world
- Afanasiy Nikitin, the first European who documented his visit to India
- Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839 - 1888), explorer of central and eastern Asia
- Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov (1827 - 1885)
- Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel (1796-1870), expolerer of Arctica
Inventors
A-S
- Zhores Ivanovich Alferov (1930), physicist
- Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov (1922 - 2001), laser inventor, Nobel Prize for Physics 1964, together with Alexandr Prokhorov
- Vasily Degtyarev (1880-1947), weapons designer
- Pyotr Kozmitch Frolov (1775-1839), mining engineer and inventor
- Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin (1894-1977), aircraft constructor
- Nikolai Kibalchich (1853-1881)
- Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907-1966), rocket engineer and designer, Father of the space program
- Ivan Petrovich Kulibin (1735-1818), mechanic
- Semyon Lavochkin (1900-1960), aircraft designer
- Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin (1847 - 1923), electrical engineer and inventor
- Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan (1905-1970), aircraft designer
- Alexander Popov (1859-1906), Russia's Marconi, an inventor of Radio
- Alexandr Prokhorov (1916-2002), physicist, Nobel Prize for Physics 1964, born in Queensland, Australia
- Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944), father of colour photography
- Boris Rosing (1869-1933)
- Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972), helicopter and aircraft designer
- Pavel Sukhoi (1895-1975), aircraft constructor and designer
T-Z
- Leon Theremin (1896-1993), inventor of one of the first electronic musical instruments, the Theremin
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), rocket scientist and pioneer of astronautics
- Andrey Tupolev (1888-1972), aircraft designer and builder
- Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov (1720?-1758), inventor of the Russian porcelain
- Vladimir Zworykin (1899-1982), coinventor of television
- Pavel Yablochkov, electrical engineer, inventor of Yablochkov candle
Humanities and Social sciences
- Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), anarchist
- Nicolas Berdyaev (1874- 1948), philosopher of religion and politics
- Georges Florovsky (1893 -1979, theologian and philosopher
- Alexander Herzen, father of Russian socialism
- Nikolay Karamzin, father of Russian conservatism
- Mikhail Katkov (1818-1887), reactionary journalist
- Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), anarchist
- Wassily Leontief, economist, Nobel Prize winner
- Alexei Losev (1893-1988), philosopher
- Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov (1908-1981), archeologist, historian, and ethnographer
- Peter Ouspensky (1878-1947), author of In Search of the Miraculous and Tertium Organum
- Yevgeny Polivanov (1891-1938), linguist and orientalist
- Serge Poltoratzky (1803-1884), literary scholar and opponent of serfdom
- Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtsev (1870-1952), international authority on ancient Greek and Roman history
- Yevgeny Tarle (1874–1955), historian of Western Europe
- Vasily Tatishchev (1686–1750), first Russian historian
- Pavel Gavrilovich Vingradov (1854-1925), history of English laws
Philology and Linguistics
- Vladimir Dahl, lexicographer
- Yakov Karlovich Grot, Russian orthography
- Vladislav Illich-Svitych, Nostratic theory
- Roman Jacobson, structural linguistics
- Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, monogenetic theory of language
- Sergei Ozhegov, lexicographer
- Vladimir Propp, fairy tales theory
- Nikolai Trubetzkoi, founder of phonology
Scientists
A-K
- Alexei Abrikosov, physicist, Nobel Prize recipient
- Pavel Sergeevich Alexandrov, mathematician
- Zhores Ivanovich Alferov Nobel Prize winner
- Boris Belousov, chemist / biophysicist
- Pafnuti Chebyshev (1821-1894), mathematician
- Pavel Cherenkov (1904-1990), physicist, Nobel Prize
- Vasily V. Dokuchaev (1846-1903), the founder of the modern soil science
- Zinaida Vissarionovna Ermolyeva (1898-1974), microbiologist
- Dmitry Aleksandrovich Fadeev, mathematician
- Famitsyn A.S., (1835-1918), biologist
- Anatoly Timofeevich Fomenko (1945-), mathematician, chronologist
- Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (1908-1990), physicist, Nobel Prize winner
- Alexander Frumkin (1895-1976), electrochemist
- Vitaly Ginzburg, physicist, Nobel Prize recipient
- Abram Ioffe (1880-1960), physicist
- Pyotr Kafarov (1817-1878), sinologist
- Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, physicist, discoverer of superfluidity, Nobel Prize in physics
- Nikolai Kardashev (b. 1932), astrophysicist
- Julii Khariton (1904-1996), physicist
- Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov (1903-1987), mathematician
- Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), mathematician
- Kozo-Polyansky B.M. (1890-1957), biologist
- Igor Kurchatov (1903-1960), atomic bomb physicist
L-P
- Lev Landau (1908-1968), physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize in physics
- Mikhail Lavrentyev (1900-1980), physicist and mathematician
- Petr Nikolaevich Lebedev (1866 - 1912), physicist
- Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792 -1856), mathematician
- Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765), polymath
- Nikolai Nikolaevich Lusin, mathematician
- Aleksandr Lyapunov (1857-1918), mathematician
- Trofim Lysenko, biologist
- Leonid Mandelshtam (1879-1944), physicist
- Yuri Ivanovich Manin, mathematician
- Andrei Markov (1856-1922), mathematician
- Dmitri Mendeleyev (1834-1907), chemist who developed a periodic table of the chemical elements
- Merezhkovsky K.S. (1855-1921), biologist, one of the creators of theory of endosymbiosis
- Ivan Michurin, selectionist
- Aleksandr Fyodorovich Middendorf, zoologist
- Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (1845-1916), biologist, Nobel Prize in medicine
- Gennadi Nevelskoi (1813-1876), captain and navigator
- Igor Novikov (b. 1935), theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist
- Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky
- Aleksandr Oparin, biologist and biochemist
- Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811), a German working in Russia zoologist
- Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), physician and physiologist
S-Z
- Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), nuclear physicist
- Nikolay Semyonov (1896 -1986), physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry
- Iosif Shklovsky (1916-1985), astronomer and astrophysicist
- Yulian Sokhotski (1842-1927), mathematician
- Vladimir Steklov (1863-1926), physicist and mathematician
- Georg Steller (1709-1746), naturalist and ornithologist of German origin.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Struve (Vasily Yakovlevich Struve) (1793-1864), astronomer
- Igor Tamm (1895-1971), physicist, Nobel Prize
- Kliment Arkadyevich Timiryazev (1843-1920), botanist
- Mikhail Tsvet (1872 -1919), botanist, inventor of chromatography
- Paul Samuilovich Urysohn (1898-1924), a mathematician
- Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (1863-1945), geochemist, creator of the Noosphere theory
- Ivan Matveevich Vinogradov, mathematician
- Nikolai Vavilov, biologist
- Yakov Zeldovich (1914-1987), physicist, astrophysicist and cosmologist
Statesmen and military
Before 1917
Royal
See also Tsar for the list of old Russian rulers
A-F
- Alexis (1629-1676), "Aleksey Mikhaylovich the Quietest"
- Alexander I (1777-1825), "Alexander the Blessed"
- Alexander II (1818-1881), "Alexander the Liberator"
- Alexander III (1845-1894), "Alexander the Peacemaker"
- Alexandra (1872-1918), Tsarina of Russia
- Alexius Petrovich (1690-1718)
- Anastasia (1901-1918), youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II
- Anna (1693-1740), empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740
- Boris Godunov (1551-1605)
- Catherine I (1683-1727)
- Catherine II (1729-1796), "Catherine the Great"
- Constantine Pavlovich (1779-1831), vice-roy of Poland who abdicated the Russian throne
- Elizabeth (1709-1761), daughter of Peter I the Great and Catherine I
- Fyodor I (1557-1598)
- Fyodor II (1589-1605)
- Fyodor III (1661-1682)
- Patriarch Filaret, father of the first Romanov tsar
I-Z
- Ivan III (1440-1505), "Ivan the Great"
- Ivan IV (1530-1584), "Ivan the Terrible"
- Ivan V, joint ruler with Peter I
- Ivan VI (1740-1764)
- Maria Nikolayevna Romanova (1899-1918)
- Marie Fyodorovna Romanova (1848-1928)
- Michael (1596-1645), tsar of Russia from 1613 to 1645 and founder of the Romanov dynasty
- Michael II (1878-1918), Grand Duke
- Nicholas I (1825-1831), "Nicholas I the Unforgettable"
- Nicholas II (1868-1918), "Nicholas II the Bloody"
- Olga Nikolayevna Romanova (1895-1918)
- Olga Romanova (1882-1960)
- Paul I (1754-1801)
- Peter I (1672-1725), "Peter the Great"; joint ruler with Ivan V
- Peter II (1715-1730), died of smallpox on his wedding day
- Peter III (1728-1762)
- Tatiana Romanova (1897-1918)
- Vasily (IV) Shuysky (1552-1612)
Politicians and diplomats
See also List of Russian Foreign Ministers
- Alexander Bezborodko (1747-1799)
- Aleksei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693-1768)
- Mikhail Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1688-1760)
- Zakhar Chernyshev (1722-1784)
- Vasily Lukich Dolgorukov (about 1670-1739)
- Nikolay Karlovich Giers (1820-1885)
- Vasily Golitsyn (1643-1714) of the Galitzine family
- Alexander Gorchakov (1798-1883) of the Gorchakov family
- Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky (about 1600-1682)
- Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676-1727)
- Aleksey Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky (1824-1896)
- Artamon Matveev (1625-1682)
- Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov (1673-1729)
- Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky (1809-1881)
- Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin (1605-1680)
- Andrey Ivanovich Osterman (1686-1747)
- Nikita Ivanovich Panin (1718-1783)
- Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827-1907)
- Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin (1739-1791)
- Alexei Grigorevich Razumovsky (1709–1771)
- Anikita Ivanovich Repnin (1668-1726) of the Repnin family
- Mikhail Speransky (1772-1839)
- Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov (1714-1767)
- Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova (1744-1810)
- Artemy Petrovich Volynsky (1689-1740)
After 1917
Heads of state
- Yuri Andropov (1914-1984), general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982), leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years
- Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985), general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1931), general secretary of the Communist Party and president of the USSR
- Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), general secretary of the communist party of the USSR and head of state
- Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), Bolshevik party leader and the first Soviet head of state
- Vladimir Putin (b. 1952), president of Russia since 2000
- Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), Soviet Union dictator
- Boris Yeltsin (1931), president of Russia from 1991 to 1999
Revolution, politics and state figures
- See List of socialists: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Communists.
- See White Russians for opponents of Bolsheviks.
A-L
- Viktor Abakumov, police official, head of SMERSH
- Lavrenty Beria (1899-1953), Soviet chief of secret police under Joseph Stalin
- Nikolai Bukharin (1888-1938), Bolshevik party leader, Soviet statesman
- Viktor Chernomyrdin (1938), Prime Minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998
- Sergey Mikhaylovich Darkin (1963-present), governor of Primorsky Krai
- Fedor Dan, menshevik
- Feliks Dzerzhinsky, Cheka
- Viktor Grishin
- Andrei Gromyko (1908-1989), Foreign Minister of the USSR during the Cold War
- Lazar Kaganovich
- Mikhail Kasyanov (b. 1957), Prime Minister of Russia from 2000 to 2004
- Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), revolutionary, diplomat
- Nikolai Krestinsky, Old Bolshevik, repressed
- Yegor Ligachev
- Maxim Litvinov
M-Z
- Julius Martov, menshevik
- Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986), Soviet statesman
- George Plekhanov
- Alexei Rykov
- Alexander Shlyapnikov
- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) (real name: Lev Davidovich Bronstein), Russian Revolutionary
- Irakli Tsereteli, menshevik
- Andrey Vyshinsky
- Genrikh Yagoda, NKVD
- Nikolai Yezhov, NKVD
- Gennady Zyuganov (1944), leader of Russian communists since 1993
Military
See also List of people associated with World War II: Soviet Union.
See also List of Marshals of the Soviet Union.
See also List of Russian Field Marshals.
A-N
- Prince Peter Bagration (1765-1812)
- Semion Cheliuskin (circa 1700-after 1760), Polar explorer, lieutenant-captain of the Russian Imperial Navy
- Valery Chkalov (1904-1938), aircraft pilot
- Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (1900 -1982), commanded the 62nd Russian army to victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
- Lev Dovator (1903-1941), WWII general and Hero of the Soviet Union
- Joseph Vladimirovich Gourko, commander-in-chief during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78.
- Mikhail Kamensky (1738-1809), Catherinian Field Marshal
- Konstantin Kaufmann (1818-1882), general who conquered Khiva
- Ivan Kozhedub (1920-1991), WWII fighter pilot, thrice Hero of the Soviet Union
- Mikhail Kutuzov
- Sigismund Levanevsky (1902-1937), aircraft pilot, among the first to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
- Anatoly Liapidevsky (1908-1983), aircraft pilot, among the first to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
- Stepan Osipovich Makarov (1848 -- 1904), admiral, explorer
- Alexander Matrosov, soldier, Hero of the Soviet Union
- Aleksandr Sergeyevich Menshikov, commander-in-chief during the Crimean War
- Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich, hero of the Napoleonic wars
- Pavel Nakhimov (1802-1855), legendary admiral
- Alexander Ostermann-Tolstoy, hero of the Napoleonic wars
P-Z
- Isai Panfilov (1893-1941), WWII general and Hero of the Soviet Union
- Ivan Paskevich, conqueror of Warsaw in 1831
- Alexander Pokryshkin ( 1913 - 1985, WWII fighter pilot, trice Hero of the Soviet Union
- Mikhail Skobelev, "White General" who conquered Central Asia
- Aleksandr Suvorov, Generaslissimo who never lost a battle
- Victor Talalikhin (1918-1941), WWII lieutentant and Hero of the Soviet Union
- Mikhail Tukhachevsky
- Andrey Vlasov (1900-1946), Red Army general turned Nazi collaborator and the commander of volunteer Russian forces (ROA, "Russian Liberation Army") of the German army during WWII
- Mikhail Vodopianov (1899-1975), aircraft pilot, among the first to receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
- Klimenty Voroshilov (1881-1969), marshal and politician
- Aleksey Yermolov, hero of Battle of Borodino; military ruler of the Caucasus
- Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974), marshal, chief of general staff of the Red Army and representative of STAVKA, four times Hero of the Soviet Union
Sports
Chess
- Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
- Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik
- Anatoly Karpov
- Garry Kasparov (b. 1963)
- Victor Korchnoi
- Vladimir Kramnik
- Tigran Petrosian
- Vasily Smyslov
- Boris Spassky
- Mikhail Tal
Gymnastics
- Nikolai Andrianov (b. 1952), gymnast, world record for men for most Olympic medals
- Yelena Davydova (b. 1961), Olympic gymnast
- Svetlana Khorkina, Olympic gymnast
- Alexei Nemov, (b. 1976), Olympic gymnast
- Nataliya Shaposhnikova (b. 1961), Olympic gymnast
- Yelena Shushunova (b. 1969), Olympic gymnast
- Alexandr Tkachyov (b. 1957), Olympic gymnast
Ice hockey
- Pavel Bure (b. 1971), NHL star
- Sergei Fedorov (b. 1969), NHL star
- Viacheslav Fetisov (b. 1958)
- Nikolai Khabibulin (b. 1973), NHL star goalie
- Valery Kharlamov (1948-1981), Russia's most popular international ice hockey player
- Vladimir Petrov
- Vladislav Tretiak (b. 1952), goalie
- Alexander Yakushev (b. 1947)
Other
- Evgeny Abalakov, mountaineer
- Vitaly Abalakov, mountaineer
- Inga Artamonova (1936-1966), 4-time world all-around speed skating champion
- Vladimir Beschastnykh, association football player
- Anatoli Boukreev (1958-1997), mountaineer
- Andrey Chesnokov, tennis player
- Elena Dementieva, tennis player
- Yelena Isinbayeva, (b. 1982), athlete
- Yevgeny Kafelnikov, (b. 1974), tennis player
- Anastasiya Kapachinskaya, (b.1979), athlete
- Alexander Karelin, (b. 1967), Greco-Roman wrestling, champion
- Andrei Kirilenko, (b. 1981), NBA star
- Anna Kournikova, (b. 1981), tennis player and celebrity
- Svetlana Krivelyova, (b.1969), athlete
- Anastasia Myskina, (b. 1981), tennis player
- Natalya Nazarova, (b. 1979), athlete
- Nadia Petrova, (b. 1982), tennis player
- Evgeni Plushenko (b. 1982), Figure Skater
- Roho (Boradzov Soslan Feliksovich) (b. 1980), Sumo wrestler
- Nina Romashkova (b. 1929), athlete, the first Soviet Olympic Champion
- Marat Safin (b. 1980), tennis player
- Maria Sharapova, tennis player
- Lidia Skoblikova (b. 1939), speed skater, most Olympic medals in speed skating
- Dmitri Sychev (b. 1983), association football player
- Kostya Tszyu (b. 1969), boxer
- Lev Yashin (1929-1990), football goalkeeper
- Mikhail Youzhny, tennis player
Other
- See List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow
- Roman Abramovich (b. 1966), businessman, 49th richest person in the Forbes list
- Ivan Fedorov, the first Russian printer
- Vilyam Genrikovich Fisher, a Soviet spy in the United States
- Ibrahim Gannibal, grandgrandfather of Alexander Pushkin
- Fanya Kaplan, Eser, attempted to assassinate Vladimir Lenin
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky (b. 1963), businessman, billionaire
- Patriarch Nikon, whose policies precipitated the Raskol
- Yemelian Pugachev, Cossack insurgent
- Grigori Rasputin (1872-1916), friar, adventurer, mystic wonder-worker
- Stenka Razin (1630-1671), cossack insurgent
- Tanya Savicheva (1930-1944), schoolgirl
- Aleksei Stakhanov, the work over-achiever who gave the name to the stakhanovite movement
Former Soviet Union
During the times of the Soviet Union nationals of other constituent republics were traditionally known as "Russians" in the West. Some of them were even known under Russian or Russified names. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union they have now become known under their various nationalities.
- List of Belarusians
- List of Estonians
- List of Georgians
- List of Kazakh historical figures
- List of Latvians
- List of Lithuanians
- List of Ukrainians