list of russians

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), 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", whether with pride, with shame, or with pain.

Art

Architects

Artists

Nikolay Andreyev (1873-1932), sculptor, graphic artist and stage designer
Mikhail Anikushin (1917), sculptor
Maria Konstantinovna Bashkirtseva (1858-1884, painter
Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin, painter,
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 Faberg (1846-1920), jewellery designer
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), 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
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
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

Main article:List of Russian authors
See also Russian literature

Musicians and Composers

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

Vladimir Arsenyev, explorer
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
Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839 - 1888), explorer of central and eastern Asia
Nikolai Alekseevich Severtzov (1827 - 1885)

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
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
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Fadeev, mathematician
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
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
Ivan Michurin, selectionist
Aleksandr Fyodorovich Middendorf, zoologist
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
Paul Samuilovich Urysohn (1898-1924), a mathematician
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

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)
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) of the Repnin family
Anikita Ivanovich Repnin (1668-1726)
Mikhail Speransky (1772-1839)
Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov (1714-1767)
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

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
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
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
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 many nations (rightfully) chose to "regain" their nationality in the eyes of the world. Therefore some names may be missing from the list above and you may wish to look into the following lists.