1238 The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
1238 The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol Hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Russia.
1238 The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol Hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Russia.
1242 During a battle on the ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
1323 Signature of the Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia), that regulates the border between the two countries for the first time.
1326 Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
1377 Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness.
1480 Great standing on the Ugra river, a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, which results in the retreat of the Tataro-Mongols and the eventual disintegration of the Horde.
1547 Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
1582 Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1598 Boris Godunov becomes Tsar of Russia.
1612 (22 October O.S.) Time of Troubles in Russia: Moscow, Kitai-gorod, is captured by Russian troops under command of Dmitry Pozharsky
1617 Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
1617 Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea.
1659 At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.
1676 Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
1689 The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1700 Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer uses old slovian era. According to old slovian era it happened in year 7209.
1706 During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
1725 The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
1727 Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1735 An agreement between Nadir Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku.
1739 The Treaty of Nissa is signed by the Ottoman Empire and Russia at the finish of the Russian-Turkish War, 1736–1739.
1758 Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1760 Seven Years' War: Russian forces occupy Berlin.
1762 Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
1762 Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1768 Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1774 Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
1779 War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel).
1784 Russia establishes a colony at Kodiak, Alaska.
1788 Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
1793 Second Partition of Poland: Russia and Prussia partition Poland for the second time.
1794 Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
1795 Partitions of Poland: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia
1795 Partitions of Poland: Stanislaus August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
1806 Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
1807 Napoleonic Wars: the Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the Fourth Coalition.
1808 Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
1809 Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
1809 Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
1812 Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California.
1812 Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman River beginning the invasion of Russia.
1812 Claude François de Malet, a French general, begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte, claiming that the Emperor died in Russia and that he is now the commandant of Paris.
1812 The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
1813 Russian troops fighting the army of Napoleon reach Berlin in Germany and the French garrison evacuates the city without a fight.
1813 Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1813 French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1813 Battle of Kulm: French forces are defeated by an Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.
1814 France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
1815 Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
1825 Advocates of Liberalism in Russia rise up against Tsar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist Revolt in St. Petersburg.
1829 The three protecting powers (Britain, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.
1829 The Ottoman Empire signs the Treaty of Adrianople with Russia, thus ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1830 November Uprising: An armed rebellion against Russia's rule in Poland begins.
1849 A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor.
1853 Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia.
1854 Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia.
1854 Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.
1854 Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea.
1861 Serfdom is abolished in Russia.
1861 Russian troops fire on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters.
1863 The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.
1864 Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
1867 Alaska purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
1867 United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
1875 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg between Japan and Russia is ratified, providing for the exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands.
1879 Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
1881 China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
1881 Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
1883 Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
1887 The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
1888 The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
1894 Nicholas II becomes the new Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies.
1895 In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector — a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1896 Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1898 Czar Nikolay II expels Jews from major Russian cities.
1904 Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
1904 The Russian Baltic Fleet leaves Reval, Estonia for Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
1905 According to the Julian Calendar which is used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
1905 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Togo Heihachiro and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1905 Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.
1905 Czar Nicholas II of Russia signs a document of amnesty for political prisoners.
1908 The Pravda newspaper is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles in Vienna.
1911 Russian Premier Peter Stolypin is shot at the Kiev Opera House.
1914 Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I
1914 World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
1914 Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1917 First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
1917 Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia's renunciation of the throne is made public, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia publicly issues his abdication manifesto. The victory of the February Revolution.
1917 Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
1917 Vladimir Lenin arrives in Russia from exile, marking the beginning of Bolshevik leadership in the Russian Revolution.
1917 The first U.S. troops arrive in France to fight alongside Britain, France, Italy, and Russia against Germany, and Austria-Hungary in World War I.
1917 Russian Revolution: Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov forms a provisional government in Russia after the deposing of Tsar Nicholas II.
1917 Russia is officially proclaimed a republic.
1917 Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia. The date refers to the Julian Calendar date, and corresponds with November 7 in the Gregorian calendar.
1917 An armistice was signed between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk began.
1917 Finland declares independence from Russia.
1917 Lithuania declares its independence from Russia.
1918 The Gregorian calendar introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissars effective from February 14(NS)
1918 The Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
1918 Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
1918 Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
1918 Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for 215 years.
1918 Poland declares its independence from Russia.
1918 Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
1919 The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.
1920 The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
1924 Petrograd, formerly Saint Petersburg, Russia, is renamed ''Leningrad''.
1940 In Mexico City exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramon Mercader. He dies the next day.
1943 World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
1943 World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazis.
1972 In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.
1980 At Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, 50 people are killed by an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
1986 Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performs in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
1989 Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
1991 The name ''Saint Petersburg'' is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed ''Leningrad'' in 1924.
1991 The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1991 Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.
1992 Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
1992 Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 Last Russian troops leave Poland.
1993 Russian Constitutional Crisis: In Moscow, tanks bombard the White House, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rally outside.
1994 An Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkutsk, Russia, killing 125 people including one on the ground.
1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1994 Former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1994 Sino-Soviet Split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
1994 First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
1995 The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
1995 Space Exploration: Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.
1995 The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, half of the total population.
1997 A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
1997 An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
1997 In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign The Ottawa treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
1997 A Russian Antonov An-124 transport cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67.
1998 Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
1998 Japan launches a probe to Mars, and thus joins the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
2001 The Russian ''Mir'' space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.
2002 In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.
2002 Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
2002 NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.
2002 A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
2002 The Vitim event, a possible bolide impact in Siberia, Russia.
2002 Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
2004 In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
2004 Eighty-nine passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
2005 The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
2005 The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
2006 Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.
2007 Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
2007 Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the Father of all bombs.
2008 Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as Russia's president.
2008 Georgia launches a military offensive against South Ossetia to counter the alleged Russian invasion, starting the South Ossetia War.
2008 Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
2008 A car bomb in St. Petersburg, Russia, kills three people and injures one.