Halloween began to gain popularity in Russia in the late 1990’s as part of a larger trend of adopting foreign holidays in Russia.

1981 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer is born

1892 - Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player is born (d. 1946)

1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian painter dies (b. 1858)

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Today the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in post-Soviet states is observed in The Russian Federation.

1961 - Because of “violations of Lenin’s precepts”, it is decreed that Josef Stalin’s body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin’s tomb and buried near the Kremlin wall with a plain granite marker instead.

1961 - Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest nuclear device ever detonated. Nikita Kruschev announces that the scientists had planned to make it 100 megatons, but had reduced the yield so as to avoid breaking all the windows in Moscow.

1941 - 1,500 Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) were sent by Nazis to Belzec extermination camp.

1936 - Polina Astakhova, Ukrainian gymnast is born (d. 2005)

1917 - Nikolai Vasilievich Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal is born (d. 1994)

1905 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia’s first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.

1821 - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian writer is born (d. 1881)

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1955 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.

1899 - Akim Tamiroff, Russian actor is born (d. 1972)

1880 - Abram Ioffe, Soviet physicist is born (d. 1960)

1861 - Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter is born (d. 1904)

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2006 - Funeral service for the peace of the executed at Bykivnia forest, outside of Kiev, Ukraine, with reburial of 817 Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s and early 1940s.

1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

1941 - Holocaust in Kaunas, Lithuania: German SS forces arrange the massacre of more than 9,000 Jews of the Kaunas ghetto. After the victims assembled on the Demokratu square at 6 am to be shot they are buried in gigantic ditches.

1893 - Tchaikovksy’s Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathatique, premiered in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer’s death.

1885 (O.S.) - Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet is born (d. 1922)

1740 - Empress Anna of Russia dies (b. 1693)

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1995 - Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.

1991 - Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union.

1990 - Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic’s first president.

1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.

1978 - Sergei Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player is born

1924 - The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.

1505 - Ivan III of Russia dies (b. 1440)

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2002 - Moscow Theater Siege ends: Approximately 50 Chechen terrortists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels during a musical performance three days before. Most of the hostages and victims were children.

1983 - Dmitri Sychev, Russian soccer player is born

1978 - Alexander Gerschenkron, Russian economic historian dies (b. 1904)

1972 - Igor Sikorsky, Russian inventor dies (b. 1889)

1945 - Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician dies (b. 1863)

1941 - Arkady Gaidar, Russian children’s writer dies (b. 1904)

1842 - Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter is born (d. 1904)

1842 - Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter is born (d. 1904)

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1992 - Lithuania holds a referendum on its first post-Soviet constitution.

1969 - Oleg Salenko, Russian footballer is born

1926 - Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano is born

1917 - The First Marxist revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia.

864 - Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (d. 1956)

1759 - Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, wife of Tsar Paul I of Russia is born(d. 1828)

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1974 - David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist dies (b. 1908)

1966 - Roman Abramovich, Russian oil magnate is born

1966 - Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician dies (b. 1896)

1960 - Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union’s Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash

1944 - Viktor Prokopenko, Ukranian footballer and coach dies (d. 2007)

1931 - Sofia Gubaidulina, Russian composer is born

1917-The day of the Russian revolution, The Red Revolution.

1912 - Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian composer is born (b. 1842)

1906 - Alexander Gelfond, Russian mathematician is born (d. 1968)

1875 - Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter is born (d. 1958)

1812 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.

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2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege begins: Chechen terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage. Most of the hostages held were children.

1941 - Burning of the Odessa, Ukraine, Jews: 19,000 Jews are burned alive at Dalnik in Odessa, by Romanian and German troops. The next day, another 10,000 Jews are killed. Romanian Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolae Deleanu administered the executions.

1941 - World War II: Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov takes command of Red Army operations designed to prevent the further advance into Russia of German forces and to prevent the German armies from capturing Moscow.

1908 - Ilya Frank, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)

1715 - Peter II of Russia is born (d. 1730)

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1992 - Sofia Vassilieva, Russian-American actress is born

1949 - Soviet Union detonates its first nuclear bomb.

1929 - Lev Yashin, Soviet footballer is born (d. 1990)

1921 - Alexander Kronrod, Russian mathematician is born (d. 1986)

1870 - Ivan Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate is born (d. 1953)

1865 - Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter is born (d. 1943)

1784 - Russia founds a colony on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

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