July-August : The Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, with several countries, including the United States, boycotting the games in protest of the December invasion of Afghanistan. His reform efforts include perestroika restructuring the Russian economy , glasnost greater openness and summit talks with U.
President Ronald Reagan to end the Cold War. In , he is elected president, the same year he wins the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end. Resulting in thousands of deaths and 70, severe poisoning cases, the mile radius surrounding the plant and no longer home to nearly , people , will remain unlivable for some years. He wins reelection in , but resigns in , naming former KGB agent Vladimir Putin , his prime minister, as acting president.
Up to , people are estimated killed in the month war that that ends with a compromise agreement. Chechen rebels continue a campaign for independence, sometimes through terrorist acts in Russia. March 26, : Vladimir Putin is elected president, and is reelected in a landslide in Because of term limits, he leaves office in , when his protege Dmitry Medvedev is elected, and serves as his prime minister.
Putin is then reelected as president in October 23, : About 50 Chechen rebels storm a Moscow theater , taking up to people hostage during a sold-out performance of a popular musical. After a hour standoff, most of the rebels and around hostages are killed as Russian forces storm the building. Investigations and reports are also released concerning Russian meddling in the U. Putin wins another election in , and is sworn in for six more years.
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That same month, President Putin announced that Russia will suspend the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits conventional weapons in Europe. Several U. The move provided further evidence of deteriorating relations between the United States and Russia. The Duma, the lower house of Parliament, confirmed the nomination.
Putin announced in October that he would head the list of candidates on the United Russia ticket, the country's leading political party. Such a move would pave the way for Putin to become prime minister, and thus allow him to retain power. In December parliamentary elections, United Russia won in a landslide, taking Opposition parties complained that the election was rigged, and European monitors said the vote wasn't fair.
Putin used his sway over the media to stifle the opposition and campaign for United Russia, making the election a referendum on his popularity. Opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov said the election was "the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia.
In Dec. A Putin loyalist who is said to be moderate and pro-Western, Medvedev is a first deputy prime minister and the chairman of Gazprom, the country's oil monopoly. He has never worked in intelligence or security agencies, unlike Putin and many members of his administration. Medvedev said that if elected, he would appoint Putin as prime minister. Putin said he would serve as Medvedev's prime minister and indicated that he will increase the responsibilities of the position.
Although Medvedev vowed to restore stability to Russia after the s turmoil, significant change in the government is not expected. On April 15, , Putin was chosen as chairman of the United Russia party and agreed to become prime minister when Dmitri Medvedev assumed the presidency in May. On May 6, , Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as president, and Putin became prime minister days later. Although Medvedev assumed the presidency, Putin clearly remained in control of the government and signaled that the premiership would gain broad authority.
In assembling a cabinet, Putin called on several members of his former administration. Russia sent hundreds of troops to support the enclaves, and also launched airstrikes and occupied the Georgian city of Gori.
Observers speculated that Russia's aggressive tactics marked an attempt to gain control of Georgia's oil and gas export routes. By the end of Aug. The move heightened tensions between Russia and the West. Both Russia and Georgia have painted each other as the aggressor responsible for the war?
Georgia said it launched an attack in South Ossetia because a Russian invasion was under way, and Russia claimed it sent troops to the breakaway region to protect civilians from Georgia's offensive attack. In November , Erosi Kitsmarishvili, a former Georgian diplomat to Moscow, testified that the Georgian government was responsible for starting the conflict with Russia. Kitsmarishvili stated that Georgian officials told him in April that they planned to start a war in the breakaway regions and were supported by the U.
A dispute over debts and pricing of gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine led Gazprom, the major Russian gas supplier, to halt its gas exports to Europe via Ukraine for two weeks in January , affecting at least ten EU countries.
Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the disruption to Europe's energy supply. On March 24, , the United States and Russia reported a breakthrough in arms-control negotiations. President Obama and President Medvedev signed the treaty that outlines this agreement on April 8 in Prague. Senate ratified the treaty, called New Start, in December. Two female suicide bombers, acting just minutes apart, detonated bombs in two Moscow subways stations, killing at least 39 people in March It was the first terrorist attack in the capital city since , when Moscow experienced a string of deadly violence.
Doku Umarov, a former Chechen separatist and the self-proclaimed emir of the north Caucasus, claimed responsibility for masterminding the attack.
Two days later, two explosions killed 12 people in the north Caucasus region of Dagestan. The attacks prompted concern that Prime Minister Putin would crack down on civil liberties and democracy as he did in , following the siege of a school in Beslan.
In June , the FBI announced it had infiltrated a Russian spy ring that had agents operating undercover in several cities in the United States. Ten people were arrested and charged with espionage.
By most accounts, their attempts to collect policy information were largely ineffective and clumsy, and any material they managed to gather was readily available on the Internet.
Days later, the U. In a deal that was reportedly struck two years ago, Putin and President Medvedev would swap positions, with Medvedev assuming the role as head of the party and thus becoming prime minister. Putin was all but assured to sweep the election and serve another six years as president. The announcement confirmed the widely held assumption that Putin ran the country. Putin announced his plans for the Eurasian Union that same month. The new union would include countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.
The Dec. International and local monitors condemned the election as fraudulent. United Russia, the party led by Putin, came out on top in the elections, receiving nearly 50 percent of the vote, but they lost 77 seats.
Monitors said that United Russia would have lost more seats were it not for ballot-box stuffing and voting irregularities. The height of the protests came on Dec.
It was the largest anti-Kremlin protest since the early s. The activists called for Putin's resignation and denounced the election results. Three minority parties in Parliament also complained about the election's outcome, but they were all at odds over what to do about it. President Medvedev called for an inquiry into the election fraud. Meanwhile, Putin accused the United States, singling out Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for instigating the demonstrations when she criticized conduct during the parliamentary elections.
On Dec. Porkhorov announced that he planned to run for president against Putin in In his announcement, Porkhorov said, "I made a decision, probably the most serious decision in my life: I am going to the presidential election.
The following day, observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe challenged the election, saying Putin won because he had no competition and government spending at his disposal.
The United States and the European Union called for an investigation into fraud allegations. Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators in Moscow took to the streets, chanting, "Russia without Putin. When protestors refused to leave, police arrested them. In Moscow, people were arrested. In St. Petersburg, demonstrators were detained.
Inspired by the protests against Putin, about young Muscovites ran as independent candidates in municipal March elections. More than 70 of them won spots on district councils. Even with Putin's supporters occupying many of the other council seats, the elections were a sign that the protests had made an impact in the political system and, perhaps, would continue to do so.
In May of as Putin prepared to take office for a third time as president, demonstrations turned violent. The day before the inauguration, 20, antigovernment demonstrators fought with police near the Kremlin.
The fighting included smoke bombs, bottles, and sticks. The following day, while Putin officially took office, the protests continued and police arrested people. Even though antigovernment protests have been going on for months, the demonstrations had been peaceful until now.
The violence was a dramatic shift. Dressed in riot gear, police searched cafes and restaurants for protesters. The demonstrators taken into police custody were sent to military draft offices. Right after Putin was sworn in as president, he nominated Medvedev as Russia's prime minister. On June 8, , Putin signed a law imposing a huge fine on organizers of protests as well as people who take part in them.
The law gives Russian authorities the power to crackdown on the anti-government protests which started months ago when Putin announced his decision to run again for President. Four days later, 10, protesters took to the Moscow streets in response to the new law.
Russia, along with China, vetoed the resolution just hours after the Syrian military launched an assault on the city of Homs. Russia and China voted against the resolution, seeing it as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. Russia also continued to provide weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as diplomatic support. Syria's month uprising has caused more than 5, casualties. Also in Feb.
Ursan was one of 11 foreigners honored for their close ties with Russia. Ursan, an adviser to the Syrian Writers Union, has publicly expressed anti-Semitic opinions and praised the Sept. The proposed U. The resolution was proposed by Britain and backed by ten other council members, including France and the United States. Russian ambassador Vitaly I.
Churkin explained the Russian veto to the council, "We simply cannot accept a document which would open the path for pressure of sanctions and further to external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs. During the summer of , the government began cracking down against political activists in new ways. Two new laws were signed by Putin. One law gave the government the power to shut down websites that have content which could be harmful to children.
The other law increased penalties for libel. In July , the Investigative Committee began criminal cases against Aleksei Navalny, an anticorruption blogger, and Gennady Gudkov, a lawmaker. Navalny, a leader of the anti-Putin protest movement which began in Dec. Also in July , three members of a Russian punk band called Pussy Riot were arrested and put on trial for hooliganism after they performed an anti-Putin song on the altar of Moscow's main Orthodox cathedral.
During one of the most high-profile trials that Russia's had in years, the band members said their demonstration was political, not an attack on Orthodox Christians. At the sentencing, activists outside of the courthouse began to protest, chanting "Free Pussy Riot!
Rallies supporting the three women were held in cities around the world, including London, New York and Paris. Immediately following the verdict, the United States, other governments, and human rights groups criticized the decision, calling the sentence severe.
Yekaterina Samutsevich was released after judges accepted her new lawyer's argument that she played less of a role in the cathedral protest performance that landed her in jail with her band mates.
More than a year later, President Putin announced that the two members of Pussy Riot who were still in jail would be released under an amnesty in Dec. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, age 24, and Maria Alyokhina, age 25, would be released, in part, because they are both mothers to young children. According to an interview with The New Times magazine, published on October 24, he was held for three days by men threatening to kill his children if he did not sign a confession.
Razvozzhayev was in Kiev seeking advice on political asylum from the United Nations office there. He was held in a house and not allowed to eat or drink for three days. Once he signed the confession, his kidnappers turned him over to authorities in Moscow.
Russian authorities charged Razvozzhayev and other opposition figures with plotting riots and seeking aid from Georgia in order to overthrow Putin's government. Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russian federal investigators, said that Razvozzhayev turned himself in to the authorities in Moscow and, at the time, he did not speak of any "torture, abduction or any other unlawful actions.
After 19 years of negotiations, Russia became the newest member of the World Trade Organization on Aug. Russia has cut tariffs on imports and set limits on export duties as part of a series of reforms enacted to qualify for entry into the international trading arena. The agreement was part of a successful year partnership between Russia and the United States. It eliminated nuclear and chemical weapons from the former Soviet Union and protected against the threat of nuclear war.
For example, as part of the agreement, 7, nuclear warheads were deactivated and all nuclear weapons were removed from former Soviet territories such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Russian officials explained that their country's economy had improved since the agreement. In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry said that it had increased its budget allocation "in the field of disarmament. In early July , Fugitive American intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, asked international human rights organizations to help him receive asylum in Russia.
Snowden had been seeking refuge at an international transit zone at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport since June When he first arrived at the Russian airport, he expressed a desire for asylum in Russia. President Putin responded by saying that Snowden could stay in Russia only if he ceased "his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners.
Snowden filed a temporary asylum request after more than three weeks at the airport in Sheremetyevo on July 17, After the request was filed, Putin would not say whether or not Russia would grant Snowden's request.
Instead, Putin reiterated that Snowden must do no further harm to the United States. The following week, while Edward Snowden still waited on approval of his temporary asylum request, U. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Holder wrote in a letter to Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov that Snowden would not face torture or the death penalty should he be returned to the United States to face charges of espionage.
Despite these efforts, on Aug. The temporary asylum allowed him to leave the Moscow airport where he had been since June. Russia granted Snowden asylum despite strong urging from the U. In response, President Obama canceled a planned summit meeting with Putin which was to be held in Moscow in September. Russia took the proposal seriously, and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said, "If the establishment of international control over chemical weapons in the country will prevent attacks, then we will immediately begin work with Damascus.
And we call on the Syrian leadership to not only agree to setting the chemical weapons storage sites under international control, but also to their subsequent destruction. It was the first time the Syrian government acknowledged it had chemical weapons. Given the uncertainty of Congressional authorization, diplomacy would spare Obama a potential rebuke that could undercut his authority for the remainder of his presidency. Russia and the U. If the government fails to comply, then the UN Security Council would take up the issue.
The timetable is extremely aggressive; such disarmament typically takes years, not months. While the agreement delayed a Congressional vote on a military strike, the U. Two days later, Russia denounced the UN's report, calling it incomplete. Ryabkov said, "We think that the report was distorted. It was one-sided. The basis of information upon which it is built is insufficient.
During the summer of , Russia's State Duma passed an anti-gay bill with a vote. Backed by the Kremlin, the legislation banned the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations. While the State Duma, or lower house, voted on the bill, more than two dozen protestors were attacked by anti-gay demonstrators and then arrested by police in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law in July. The law included a large fine for holding gay pride rallies or for giving any LGBT information to minors. Those caught breaking the new law could be arrested. Foreigners could be deported. Throughout July and Aug. Athletes throughout the world threatened to boycott the Olympics in protest. The International Olympic Committee began probing Russia to see how the country would enforce the law during the Olympics.
In an effort to do damage control over the controversy, the International Olympic Committee said by late July that it had "received assurances from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games. On Sunday, Dec. Nearly three dozen others were wounded. The following day another suicide bombing took place on a trolley bus in the same city.
At least ten people were killed and ten others were wounded. Both explosions came just six weeks before the Winter Olympics were being held in Sochi, miles away from Volgograd.
Never has a host country experienced this level of violent terrorism so close to the Olympic Games. President Putin vowed to double security in all of Russia's railway stations and airports. During the Olympics, the government has planned for more than 40, law enforcement officials to be on hand at the event.
In Jan. A vehicle exploded on Wednesday, Jan. One person was in the car at the time of the explosion. Two other bodies were found nearby. The following day, explosive material was found in another vehicle along with the bodies of three men. Russian authorities began an investigation into all six deaths.
Despite threats of terrorist attacks, complaints about poor preparations, and the international condemnation over their anti-gay law, Russia kicked off the costliest Olympic Games in history on Feb. The opening ceremony was mostly glitch free, although one of the five floating Olympic rings failed to open.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended and officially announced the start of the games during the ceremony. On the same day as the opening ceremony, a passenger on a Turkish jetliner told the crew that a bomb was on board and to fly the plane to Sochi. Instead, the crew landed in Istanbul. The suspect was taken into custody and no bomb was found. Meanwhile, the United States government banned all liquids, gels, aerosols and powders in carry-on luggage for flights to and from Russia. The ban came after the U.
On Feb. Despite the controversies and terror threats, the Sochi Games were incident free and considered a success. Russia led the medal count with 33, following by the United States with 28, and Norway with On March 1, , Russian president Vladimir Putin dispatched troops to Crimea, citing the need to protect Russians from extremist ultranationalists, referring to the anti-government protesters in Kiev.
The Russian troops surrounded Ukrainian military bases, and by March 3, Russia was reportedly in control of Crimea. The move sparked international outrage and condemnation just days after Russia successfully hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi. President Obama called the move a "breach of international law. In a press conference on March 4, Putin said he didn't see an immediate reason to initiate a military conflict, but Russia "reserves the right to use all means at our disposal to protect" Russian citizens and ethnic Russians in the region.
Two days later, the U. The sanctions involved revoking visas for travel to the U. On the same day, the Crimean Parliament approved a referendum, scheduled for March 16, asking voters if they want to secede from Ukraine and be annexed by Russia.
The next day, the Crimean Parliament declared the region independent and formally sought annexation by Russia. In a statement from the Kremlin, Putin said, "The referendum was organized in such a way as to guarantee Crimea's population the possibility to freely express their will and exercise their right to self-determination.
He said the referendum "violates the Ukrainian Constitution and occurred under duress of Russian military intervention. Russian history tatars. Subscribe to our newsletter! Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. We've got more than 2,2 million followers on Facebook. Join them! Read more. The fall of the Empire led to the establishment of the short-lived Russian Republic.
The new communist state of Russian SFSR continued as an independent state for five years and in a confederation of Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, and the Transcaucasian Federation led to the formation of the communist state of the Soviet Union.
It was a major economic and military power. However, during the end of the 20th century, its economy began to stagnate, and the political system began to crumble. These and other causes led to the fall of the Soviet Union in and its dissolution in 15 independent Republics.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in , the Russian Federation became an independent nation.
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