1999 - The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others

1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union

1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 398

1982 - Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian ice hockey player is born

1967 - Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer dies (b. 1891)

1920 - Polish-Bolshevik War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komara

1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente alliance

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1990 - Tatarstan declares independence from the RSFSR

1988 - Ernests Gulbis, Latvian tennis player is born

1958 - Anna Politkovskaya, Russian journalist is born (d. 2006)

1946 - Konstantin Rodzaevsky, Russian fascist is executed (b. 1907)

1946 - Grigory Semyonov, Russian counter-revolutionary is executed (b. 1890)

1918 - Fanya Kaplan, an assassin, shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. This, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.

1896 - Alexei Lobanov-Rostovsky, Russian statesman dies (b. 1824)

1860 - Isaac Levitan, Russian artist is born (d. 1900)

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1996 - Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard

1991 - Supreme Soviet suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party

1949 - Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan

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1924 - Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union

1853 - Vladimir Shukhov, Russian engineer and inventor is born (d. 1939)

1828 (O.S.) - Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer is born (d. 1910)

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2000 - Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed

1991 - Moldova declares independence from the USSR

1991 - The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

1828 - The Russians defeat the Turks at the Battle of Akhalzic

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1976 - Zemfira, Russian singer is born

1970 - Olimpiada Ivanova, Russian athlete is born

1957 - The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM - a “super long distance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket … a few days ago,” according to the Soviet news agency, TASS

1914 - World War I: Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg, a decisive engagement which resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army

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2004 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, explode within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow, leaving no survivors. The explosions were caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union

1990 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer dies (b. 1941)

1979 - Sampson Sievers, Russian Orthodox Christian monk and wonder-worker dies (b. 1898)

1939 - The Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin

1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty

1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet dies (b. 1886)

1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer is born (d. 1875)

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1998 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires the Kirienko Government

 1990 - Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union

1989 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way)

1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States

1943 - World War II: Kharkov liberated

1942 - World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad

1880 - Alexander Grin, Russian writer is born (d. 1932)

1875 - Eugene Lanceray, Russian artist is born (d. 1946)

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2006 - Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crashes, killing 170 people.

1968 - Alexander Mostovoi, Russian footballer is born

1944 - World War II: Romania captured by the Soviet Union.

1900 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer is born (d. 1964)

1875 - The Treaty of Saint Petersburg between Japan and Russia is ratified, providing for the exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands.

1873 - Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher is born (d. 1928)

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1991 - Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses

1991 - Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union

1968 - Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring; on the same day, Nicolae CeauÅŸescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet maneuver, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1940 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary dies (b. 1879)

1909 - Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician is born (d. 1992)

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