This is a list of people associated with Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and Russia of today. For a long time Russia was a multinational country, and many people of different nationalities contributed to its culture, to its glory, and to its sorrow. They may be Georgians, Jews, Poles, Moors, Udege, Tatars, Belarussians, Germans,... 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.
Artists
- Nikolay Andreyev (1873-1932), sculptor, graphic artist and stage designer
- Mikhail Anikushin (1917), sculptor
- Marc Chagall (1887-1985), painter
- Carl Fabergé (1846-1920), jewellery designer
- Isaak Levitan (1860-1900), landscape painter
- Vera Mukhina (1889-1953), sculptress
- Alexander Nikulin (1878-1945), painter
- Ilya Repin, painter
- Andrei Rublev (circa 1360-1430), painter
- Valentin Serov (1865-1911), painter
- Vladimir Tatlin (1885 - 1953), painter and architect.
- Vasily Tropinin (1776-1857), painter
- Ivan Vishnyakov (1699-1761), painter
See also Russian literature.
- Boris Akunin (b. 1956), author, essayist, translator
- Alexander Beliaev (1884-1942), science fiction author
- Andrey Bely (1880-1934), poet and author
- Isaak Babel (1894-1940), author
- Vissarion Belinsky (1811-1848), writer, literary critic and philosopher
- Vladimir Bukovsky (b. 1942), writer and dissident
- Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940), playwright and author
- Kir Bulychev (1934-2003), science fiction author
- Ivan Bunin (1870-1953), first Russian Nobel Prize Winner
- Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), playwright, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment
- Ilya Ehrenburg (1891-1947), novelist and WWII war correspondent
- Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), author, Dead Souls
- Ivan Goncharov (1812-1891), Oblomov
- Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), novelist, My Universities
- Lev Gumilyov (Lev Gumilev)
- Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814-1841), poet, author and painter
- Nikolai Karamzin (1766-1826), poet, author, historian
- Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895), storyteller, novelist, and journalist
- Nikolai Ogaryov (1813-1877)
- Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765), linguistic reformer
- Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), wrote first in Russian, then in English, author of Lolita
- Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), was not permitted by USSR to accept the Nobel Prize, Doctor Zhivago
- Alexander Radishchev (1749-1802), social critic
- Ayn Rand (1905-1982), American novelist and philosopher born in St. Petersburg, Russia
- Varlam Shalamov (1907-1982), author of tales about Gulag
- Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889), novelist
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918), Nobel Prize for Literature
- Viktor Suvorov (b. 1947)
- Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) War and Peace, Anna Karenina
- Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), author of We
- 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
- 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
- Vitus Bering (1681-1741), explorer of north-western and south-western Alaska
- Semion Ivanovich Dezhnev (circa 1605-1673), explorer of north-eastern Asia
- Ivan Fedorov, explorer of north-western Alaska
Heads of state
- Yuri Andropov (1914-1984), general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
- 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
- Zhores Ivanovich Alferov (1930), physicist
- 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
- Semyon Lavochkin (1900-1960), aircraft designer
- Artem Ivanovich Mikoyan (1905-1970), aircraft designer
- Alexander Popov (1859-1906), Russia's Marconi
- Alexandr Prokhorov (1916-2002), physicist, Nobel Prize for Physics 1964, born in Queensland, Australia
- Boris Rosing (1869-1933)
- Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972), helicopter and aircraft designer
- Pavel Sukhoi (1895-1975), aircraft constructor and designer
- 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
- Vladimir Zworykin (1899-1982), physicist and electrical engineer
- Pavel Yablochkov, electrical engineer, inventor of Yablochkov candle
See also List of people associated with World War II: Soviet Union.
- Petr 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
- 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
- Pavel Nakhimov (1802-1855), admiral
- Isai Panfilov (1893-1941), WWII general and Hero of the Soviet Union
- Alexander Pokryshkin (b. 1913), WWII fighter pilot, thrice Hero of the Soviet Union
- Aleksandr Suvorov
- 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
- Kliment Voroshilov (1881-1969), marshal and politician
- Aleksey Yermolov, hero of Borodino; military ruler of the Caucasus
- Georgi Zhukov (1896-1974), marshal, chief of general staff of the Red Army and representative of STAVKA, four times Hero of the Soviet Union
- Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), composer
- Fyodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), opera singer, bass
- Cesar Cui (1835-1918)
- Valery Gergiev (1953), pianist, conductor
- Alexander Glazunov (1865?-1936), composer
- Reinhold Gliere (1875-1956), composer
- Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), composer of Russlan and Ludmilla
- Nikolai Golovanov (1891-1953), conductor
- Emil Grygoryevich Gilels (1916-1985), pianist
- Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989), pianist
- Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
- Aram Katchaturian (1903-1978)
- Lena Katina (b. 1984) and Yulia Volkova (b. 1985), pop music group t.A.T.u.
- Tikhon Khrennikov (b. 1913), composer
- Kyril Kondrashin (1914-1981), conductor
- Leonid Kogan (1924-1982), violinist
- 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
- Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), composer
- Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
- Sviatoslav Teofilovich 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
- Alexander Nikolayevich 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
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
- Nikita Mikhalkov (b. 1945), filmmaker and politician
- Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet-Yiddish actor
- Ivan Novikoff (1899-2002), ballet master
- Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993), ballet dancer
- Anna Pavlova (1882-1931), ballerina
- Alexander Ptushko (1882-1931), film director
- Konstantin Stanislavsky (1868-1938), actor
- Galina Ulanova (1910-1988), ballerina
- Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876), anarchist
- Nicolas Berdyaev (1874- 1948), philosopher of religion and politics
- Aleksandr Gertsen, father of Russian socialism
- Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), anarchist
- Peter Ouspensky (1878-1947), author of In Search of the Miraculous and Tertium Organum
- Alexei Losev (1893-1988)
(who wrote much of their poetry in the Russian language, see List of Russian language poets)
Revolution, politics and state figures
See also List of socialists: Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Communists.
- 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
- 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
- Yegor Ligachev
- Maxim Litvinov
- 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 Ivanovich Yezhov, NKVD
- Gennady Zyuganov (1944), leader of Russian communists since 1993
Politicians and Diplomats (old time)
- Aleksei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693-1768)
- Mikhail Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1688-1760)
- Zakhar Chernyshev (1722-1784), Minister of War
- Vasily Lukich Dolgorukov (about 1670-1739)
- Boris Ivanovich Kurakin (1676-1727)
- Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov (1714-1767)
- Artemy Petrovich Volynsky (1689-1740)
Royal
- 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)
- 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"
- Elizabeth (1709-1761), daughter of Peter I the Great and Catherine I
- Fyodor I (1557-1598)
- Fyodor II (1589-1605)
- Fyodor III (1661-1682)
- 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)
- 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), "Nicolas I the Unforgettable"
- Nicholas II (1868-1918), "Nicholas II the Bloody"
- 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)
- Anastasia (1901-1918), youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II
- Maria Nicolaievna Romanova (1899-1918)
- Marie Fyodorovna Romanova (1848-1928)
- Olga Nicolaievna Romanova (1895-1918)
- Olga Romanova (1882-1960)
- Tatiana Romanova (1897-1918)
- Vasily (IV) Shuysky (1552-1612)
- Pavel Sergeevich Alexandrov, mathematician
- Boris Belousov
- Pafnuti Chebyshev (1821-1894), mathematician
- Pavel Cherenkov (1904-1990), physicist, Nobel Prize
- Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (1908-1990), physicist, Nobel Prize winner
- Alexander Frumkin (1895-1976), electrochemist
- Abram Ioffe (1880-1960), physicist
- Pyotr Kafarov (1817-1878), sinologist
- Nikolai Kardashev (b. 1932), astrophysicist
- Julii Khariton (1904-1996), physicist
- Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967), cosmonaut
- Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov (1903-1987), mathematician
- Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), mathematician
- Lev Landau (1908-1968), physicist and mathematician
- Mikhail Lavrentyev (1900-1980), physicist and mathematician
- Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792 -1856), mathematician
- Nikolai Nikolaevich Lusin, mathematician
- Aleksandr Lyapunov (1857-1918), mathematician
- Leonid Mandelshtam (1879-1944), physicist
- Andrei Markov (1856-1922), mathematician
- Dmitri Mendeleyev (1834-1907), chemist who developed a periodic table of the chemical elements
- Gennadi Nevelskoi (1813-1876), captain and navigator
- Igor Novikov (b. 1935), theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist
- Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), physician and physiologist
- Yevgeny Polivanov (1891-1938), linguist and orientalist
- 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
- Igor Tamm (1895-1971), physicist, Nobel Prize
- Paul Samuilovich Urysohn (1898-1924), a mathematician
- Yakov Zeldovich (1914-1987), physicist, astrophysicist and cosmologist
- Evgeny Abalakov, mountaineer
- Vitaly Abalakov, mountaineer
- Vladimir Beschastnykh, association football player
- Andrey Chesnokov, tennis player
- Yelena Davydova (b. 1961), Olympic gymnast
- Sergei Fedorov (b. 1969), NHL star
- Viacheslav Fetisov (b. 1958), ice hockey player
- Yevgeny Kafelnikov (b. 1974), tennis player
- Valery Kharlamov (1948-1981), Russia's most popular international ice hockey player
- Svetlana Khorkina, Olympic gymnast
- Andrei Kirilenko (b. 1981), NBA star
- Olga Korbut (b. 1955), Olympic gymnast
- Anna Kournikova (b. 1981), tennis player and celebrity
- Alexei Nemov (b. 1976), Olympic gymnast
- Vladimir Petrov, ice hockey player
- Marat Safin (b. 1980), tennis player
- Yelena Shushunova (b. 1969), gymnast
- Dmitry Sychev (b. 1983), association football player
- Vladislav Tretiak (b. 1952), ice hockey goalie
- Alexander Yakushev (b. 1947), ice hockey player
- Lev Yashin (1929-1990), football goalkeeper
Other
- 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
- Nestor the Chronicler
- Yemelian Pugachev, Cossack insurgent
- Grigori Rasputin (1872-1916), friar, adventurer, mystic wonder-worker
- 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.