CHRONOLOGY

Chronology: translation

SOVIET ERA(1917-1985)

1917 February: Bread riots in Petrograd (“February Revolution”).March: Abdication of Nicholas II; establishment of the Provisional Government and election of the Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.16April: Vladimir Lenin returns from exile.7 November: Soviet power is established (“October Revolution”).6 December: Finland declares its independence from Russia.15 December: Armistice with Germany is signed.20 December: The Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage (Cheka) is established.

1918 January: Constituent Assembly is dissolved, ending democracy in Soviet Russia.February: Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar; Lithuania and Estonia declare independence from Russia.10July: Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) is ratified.17 July: Execution of Nicholas Romanov and his family at Yekaterinburg.

1922 April: Joseph Stalin becomes general secretary of the Communist Party.25 October: Soviets occupy Vladivostok, ending the civil war.30 December: Establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR); inaugural members include the Russian and Transcaucasian SFSRs and the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) of Ukraine and Belarus.

1924 21 January: Death of Lenin.31 January: The Constitution of the USSR is ratified.27 October: Delimitation of Central Asia creates new republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

1928First Five-Year Plan is introduced.

1936Initiation of the Great Purges, which last for nearly three years; political persecution continues until Stalin’s death in 1953.5 December: The culmination of the national delimitation process produces the final borders of the Central Asian union republics.

1939 24 August: The USSR and Nazi Germany sign the MolotovRibbentrop Pact, secretly dividing Eastern Europe.

1940Soviet annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as portions of Romanian territory that will become part of Moldova.

1941 22 June: Germany invades the Soviet Union, bringing the country into World War II on the side of the Allies.28 August: Ethnic Germans are deported from European Russia to Siberia and Central Asia; seven other nations, including the Chechens, will suffer the same fate in the coming years.

1945 8 May: The USSR, United States, and Great Britain accept the unconditional surrender of Germany, ending the war in Europe.9 August: The USSR invades Manchuria, joining the U.S. in the war against Japan; the Soviet Union will subsequently annex parts of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands.

1947Events in Czechoslovakia trigger the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the USSR.

1949 5-8 January: COMECON is established as an economic union among the states of the Eastern Bloc.29 August: The first atomic test is performed by the Soviet Union.

1953 5 March: Joseph Stalin dies.14 March: A struggle for power begins between Lavrenty Beria and Nikita Khrushchev.

1954Establishment of the KGB.

1955 14 May: The Warsaw Pact is established in response to West Germany’s admission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

1956 25 February: Khrushchev’s “secret speech” condemning Stalinism.6 July: Karelo-Finnish SSR merged into the RSFSR.

1957 4 October: Launch of the artificial satelliteSputnikinitiates the space race.

1964 13 October: Khrushchev is removed from power and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.

1968 21 August: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, putting down the “Prague Spring” experiment in “socialism with a human face.”

1978 December: Afghanistan signs an agreement with the USSR that provides for military assistance.

1979 14 April: Afghan government requests the use of Soviet helicopters.3 July: U.S. government begins covert aid to the Afghan mujahideen.24 December: Soviet troops invade Afghanistan.

1982 10 November: Brezhnev dies and is succeeded by Yury Andropov.

1984 9 February: Andropov dies and is succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.

GORBACHEV ERA(1985-1991)

1985 11 March: Chernenko dies; Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).April: Eduard Shevardnadze replaces Andrey Gromyko as foreign minister.May: Gorbachev introduces aspects of his reform agenda and announces the anti-alcoholism campaign.July: Unilateral moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.November: First summit between Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.December: Boris Yeltsin assumes control of the Moscow Communist Party.

1986 25 January: Gorbachev proposes decommissioning all nuclear warheads by the end of the century.11 February: Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky is released from prison and emigrates; other Jewish “refuseniks” will follow.19 February: TheMirspace station is launched.25 February: Beginning of the 27th Congress of the CPSU; Gorbachev begins the implementation of perestroika in an attempt to counter economic stagnation; he uses the termglasnost, arguing for transparency in this process.26 April: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine explodes, sending radiological pollution across the USSR and northern Europe.July: Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan is announced, as are plans for improving relations with the People’s Republic of China.7 July: Gorbachev opens the door to possible reunification of Germany in a meeting with the West German president.October 11: Gorbachev meets Ronald Reagan in Iceland to discuss nuclear missile reductions.December: The Jeltoqsan riots occur in Kazakhstan, protesting the appointment of a non-Russian as the head of the republic; the dissident Andrey Sakharov is allowed to return to Moscow from internal exile.

1987 27 January: Gorbachev calls for democratization at the Central Committee of the CPSU plenum.12 February: 140 dissidents are pardoned or rehabilitated.22 July: Gorbachev unexpectedly agrees to discuss the elimination of intermediate-range nuclear missiles without conditions.July: In Moscow, Crimean Tatars protest against their continuing exile in Central Asia.August: Demonstrations against the 1940 annexations occur in the Baltic States.October: Yeltsin is removed from power in a dispute over the speed of reforms.8 December: Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C.

1988 February: More than two dozen Armenians are killed in the Sumgait pogrom in Azerbaijan.18 February: Gorbachev declares that all socialist countries have the right to choose their own systems, presaging an end to the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine.14 April: USSR agrees to evacuate all its troops from Afghanistan by early 1989.May: The Law on the Cooperatives introduces the first genuine free-market reforms in the USSR since the 1920s.7 May: The Democratic Union is founded, the first new political party since 1918.31 May: Ronald Reagan addresses students at Moscow State University during his first visit to the USSR.28 June: At the 19th All-Union Party Congress, Gorbachev expands his call for democratization of the political system of the USSR, including a new approach to federalism; glasnost is adopted as an official policy; the 1,000th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church is celebrated.13 June: Talks with the Vatican are opened.September: Attacks on Azeris in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh result in mass migrations.October: Spitak earthquake rocks Armenia, leaving more than 25,000 people dead.November:Little Veraopens in Moscow, breaking the Soviet taboo on sex scenes in film, while portraying the extreme pessimism of the country’s youth.16 November: The Estonian Supreme Soviet declares the republic’s sovereignty, though not its independence.December: Estonian is adopted as the official language of the Estonian SSR, beginning a series of similar “language revolutions” throughout 1989.

1989 January: Soviet authorities institute direct rule over NagornoKarabakh to stop Armenian-Azeri violence.10 January: Gorbachev orders an end to single-candidate elections, telling the Central Committee that they must earn the “right to rule.”18 January: Gorbachev slashes the Soviet Union’s military budget; Poland’s Communist Party votes to legalize Solidarity.February: Soviet troops begin to leave Hungary.15 February: The last Soviet soldier departs Afghanistan, ending the Soviet-Afghan War.26 March: After being purged from power, Yeltsin returns to public life as a Moscow delegate in the Congress of People’s Deputies.7 April: The K-278Komsomoletssinks in the Barents Sea, killing 41 submariners.9 April: Soviet crackdown on demonstrators in Tbilisi leaves 20 dead.17 April: Solidarity is granted the right to participate in Poland’s upcoming elections, signaling the end of the one-party system in the Eastern Bloc.25 April: Andrey Gromyko and other antireformers are purged from the Central Committee.May: Interethnic violence between Abkhaz and Georgians begins; the Uzbek pogrom against the Meskhetian Turks triggers their evacuation to Russia; Mikhail Khodorkovsky registers Menatep Bank, which will become the core of his economic empire.2 May: Hungary opens a 240kilometer stretch of its border with Austria, effectively ending the Iron Curtain (all border restrictions will end in August).8 May: Restoration of the Republic of Estonia.14 May: Gorbachev visits the People’s Republic of China, the first state visit since the 1960s.June: Tiananmen Square protests in China are crushed.2 June: Mintimer Shaymiyev becomes the head of Tatarstan.July: Coal miners begin strikes across the country; Gazprom is founded.6 July: Gorbachev makes his “Common European Home” speech in Bonn, West Germany.23 August: Citizens of the Baltic republics commemorate victims of the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in a 600-kilometer human chain known as the “Baltic Way.”23 September: Azerbaijan declares its sovereignty.20 October: Multiparty elections set in Hungary.25 October: Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov announces the existence of the “Sinatra Doctrine” onGood Morning America, signaling the unequivocal end of the Brezhnev Doctrine of Soviet interference in the internal affairs of its Warsaw Pact allies.7 November: East Germany’s Communist government resigns.9 November: The fall of the Berlin Wall.10 November: Bulgaria’s leader Todor Zhivkov steps down, ending the Communist dictatorship; South Ossetia declares its intent to merge with North Ossetiya, following interethnic violence with the local Georgian population.17 November: The “Velvet Revolution” begins in Czechoslovakia; the Communist Party renounces its monopoly on power 11 days later.December: Vladimir Zhirinovsky establishes the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union, which will later be renamed the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.3 December: At a summit with George H. W. Bush in Malta, Gorbachev declares: “The Cold War has ended.”10 December: Mongolia abandons Communism.22 December: Nicolae Ceauşescu flees the Romanian capital as Ion Iliescu assumes power; Ceauşescu and his wife are captured and executed on Christmas Day.29 December: Former dissident Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia; the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the USSR meet to discuss the future of divided Berlin.1990 January: Soviet troops kill 130 in Baku during protests over the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh;Timemagazine names Gorbachev “Man of the Year.”31 January: The first McDonald’s opens in Moscow.February: Riots in Dushanbe over the prospect of relocation of ethnic Armenians result in Tajikistan declaring a state of emergency.7 February: The USSR adopts a presidential system, thus ending CPSU’s monopoly on power in the country.28 February: Law on Peasant Farms passed, allowing individual property ownership.9 March: Georgia declares its sovereignty.11 March: Lithuania’s independence is declared.12 March: Estonia calls on the United Nations (UN) to restore the country’s recognition as an independent state.14 March: Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Union.31 March: Soviet troops seize Lithuanian printing presses in order to stifle pro-independence newspapers.13 April: The Soviet Union issues an apology for the Katyń Massacre of Polish officers during World War II.24 April: At Moscow’s behest, Aeroflot begins service to Saudi Arabia to allow Russian Muslims to conduct the hajj.4 May: Latvia declares its independence.16 May: Congress of People’s Deputies is formed, giving rise to a genuine parliamentary system.29 May: Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic; he declares that Russian laws trump Soviet laws.1 June: U.S.-USSR treaty on the destruction of chemical weapons is signed.2 June: Anti-Uzbek riots break out in Kyrgyzstan.10 June: Alexius II is enthroned as the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus.11 June: Russia declares its sovereignty and right to determine its economic future.20 June: Uzbekistan declares its sovereignty.23 June: Moldova declares its sovereignty.July: Gorbachev drops his objections to a unified Germany’s membership in NATO.12 July: Yeltsin resigns from the Communist Party.16 July: Ukraine declares its sovereignty.27 July: Belarus declares its sovereignty.31 July: Gorbachev and Bush sign the START I agreement.5August: Yeltsin makes a speech in Kazan urging Russia’s republican leaders to “take all the sovereignty they can swallow.”22 August: Turkmenistan declares its sovereignty.23 August: Armenia declares its independence.25 August: Tajikistan declares its sovereignty.30August: Tatarstan declares its state sovereignty.September: The 500 Days Program of economic reform is announced.October: Andrey Kozyrev becomes Russian foreign minister.3 October: Reunification of Germany.8 October: Buryatiya declares its state sovereignty.13October: First Russian Orthodox ceremony held in St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square in 70 years.15 October: Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War.16 October: The radical Russian National Unity Party is founded.25 October: Kazakhstan declares its sovereignty.23 November: “The Patriotic Song” is adopted as the new Russian national anthem.27 November: ChechenoIngush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) declares its state sovereignty.December: Gorbachev slows the course of reforms, appointing conservatives Boris Pugo and Valentin Pavlov to top posts; Shevardnadze resigns as foreign minister.12 December: Kyrgyzstan declares its sovereignty; Georgia revokes the autonomy of South Ossetia.20 December: The Central Bank of Russia is founded from the assets of the former State Bank of the USSR.

1991 13 January: Soviet troops besiege the Vilnius TV tower, killing 14 Lithuanian civilians.February: Members of the Warsaw Pact announce their intent to disband the organization.19 February: Yeltsin calls for Gorbachev’s resignation.22 February: Some 400,000 march on Moscow in support of Yeltsin.8 March: Plans for the New Union Treaty are made public.17 March: The All-Union Referendum is held to determine the future of Soviet federalism; 76.4 percent of Soviet voters seek to preserve the union, though Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia boycott the poll.20 March: NATO declares it will not expand into Eastern Europe for fear of alienating the USSR.April: General strike in Belarus in favor of independence.23April: Novo-Ogarevo Pact (9+1 Agreement) is signed, moving forward the new union negotiations.4 May: The Don Bass coal miners end their strike.6 May: Russia creates its own state security apparatus.16 May: Sino-Russian Border Agreement signed.12 June: Yeltsin wins the Russian presidency with 57 percent of the vote.28 June: COMECON is abolished.July: Eduard Shevardnadze establishes the Movement for Democratic Reforms.1 July: Warsaw Pact is disbanded.3 July: Adygeya becomes a republic of Russia.12 July: The final version of the New Union Treaty is drafted by the Russian Supreme Soviet.20July: Yeltsin bans CPSU activities in the workplace.19 August: The hard-line coup against Gorbachev is initiated; the State Committee on the State of Emergency is established.20 August: Estonia declares independence.21 August: Latvia repeats its declaration of independence.23 August: In the face of popular opposition led by Yeltsin, the coup collapses.24 August: Gorbachev resigns as general secretary of the CPSU; Ukraine declares its independence.25 August: Belarus declares its independence.27 August: Moldova declares its independence.29 August: The USSR Supreme Soviet bans all activities of the CPSU.31 August: Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan declare independence from the USSR.6 September: The USSR recognizes the independence of the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.9 September: Tajikistan declares its independence from the USSR.17 September: The Baltic States are admitted to the UN.October 27: Declaration of Turkmenistan’s independence; Jokhar Dudayev wins the presidency in Chechnya.1 November: Chechen declaration of independence.6November: Yeltsin outlaws the CPSU.8 December: The leaders of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian republics sign the Belavezha Accords, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved in favor of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).10 December: Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian parliaments back the formation of the CIS.24 December: Official dissolution of the USSR and creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan); Yeltsin informs the UN that the Russian Federation will assume the USSR’s permanent seat on the Security Council.25 December: Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR.26 December: USSR Supreme Soviet dissolves itself.31 December: Russian tricolor replaces the Soviet flag over the Kremlin.

YELTSIN ERA(1991-1999)

1992 2 January: Price controls lifted on many goods.26 January: Yeltsin announces that Russia’s nuclear weapons will no longer be targeted at the United States.February: Aleksandr Rutskoy calls Yeltsin’s plans for the country “economic genocide”; fighting in South Ossetia intensifies.25 February: The Khojaly Massacre claims the lives of more than 600; Armenian forces, aided by the Russian military, are blamed.2 March: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan become members of the UN.31 March: Federation Treaty establishes power-sharing agreements between the central government and the republics and other administrative units.6 April: Nuclear explosion at the Tomsk-7 Reprocessing Complex.May: Tajik Civil War begins.5 May: Crimea declares its secession from Ukraine; the declaration is rescinded five days later.7 May: Russian Ministry of Defense is established.19 May: First Worldwide Congress of Tatars is held in Kazan.25 May: RussiaKazakhstan Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance is signed.June: Yegor Gaydar is appointed acting prime minister.1June: Russia is granted full membership in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).6 June: Yury Luzhkov is appointed mayor of Moscow.17 June: START II negotiations begin between Bush and Yeltsin.20June: Estonia replaces the ruble with the kroon.July: Ethnic Russians in Estonia protest against new citizenship laws; cease-fire is brokered between Moldova and Transnistria; Yeltsin attends the Group of Seven (G7) Summit.14 July: Russian peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia begins.23 July: Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.25 July: The Games of the XXV Olympiad begin in Barcelona; Russia competes as part of the Unified Team, which includes all the former Soviet republics except the Baltic States.31 July: Georgia is admitted to the UN.15 August: Unified Energy System is founded.27 September: Sukhumi falls to Abkhaz rebels, reputedly backed by Russian advisors.15 October: Serial killer Andrey Chikatilo, the “Red Ripper,” is convicted of 52 murders.November: Russian troops are deployed to prevent further Ossetian-Ingush violence.6 November: Tatarstan’s constitution is passed, rejecting the Federation Treaty with Moscow.9 December: Russia’s parliament refuses to confirm Yegor Gaydar as prime minister; the following day Yeltsin condemns the Congress of People’s Deputies as a “fortress of conservative and reactionary forces.”12 December: A date in April 1993 is set for a referendum on the new constitution.14 December: Viktor Chernomyrdin is confirmed as prime minister.

1993 1 January: The independent television station TV-6 begins broadcasting.3 January: START II, banning the use of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads, is signed by Bush and Yeltsin in Moscow.February: Russia’s Ministry of Defense declares it has strategic interests along Georgia’s Black Sea coast; terrorist attack in Kislovodsk kills 10.10 March: The Congress of People’s Deputies opens its session with scathing attacks on Yeltsin, threatening impeachment.20 March: Yeltsin goes on national television to declare his institution of a “special regime,” significantly expanding presidential power.April: Russia crafts its new “Foreign Policy Concept,” calling for better relations with East Asian countries and a primary focus on diplomacy with the CIS states; a Russo-Kyrgyz military agreement is signed; the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission is established to expand bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and the Russian Federation.15 April: Yukos is created through the merger of several Samara-based oil companies.25 April: Referendum on presidential power in the Russian Federation; the poll shows support for Yeltsin continuing his reform agenda.May: First attempts at creating a common economic space among the CIS states; Ukraine and the United States begin developing military and economic ties; Treaty of Friendship between Russia and Tajikistan.July: G7 announces $43 billion aid package to Russia.16 June: The Working Party on the accession of the Russian Federation is established.31 August: Last Russian troops leave Lithuania.September: Plans for the joint U.S.-Russian International Space Station are announced.1 September: Yeltsin attempts to suspend Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoy; the matter is referred to the Constitutional Court two days later.21 September: Yeltsin dissolves the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of People’s Deputies in violation of the constitution.23 September: Congress of People’s Deputies impeaches Yeltsin; a standoff ensues with the parliamentarians holing up in the White House.24 September: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov wins the governorship of Kalmykiya.4 October: Pro-Yeltsin military units storm parliament and arrest the opposition members.10 October: Vladimir Gusinsky launches NTV.November: The Yabloko political bloc is established.12 December: The Constitution of the Russian Federation is adopted; nationalists and Communist parties win the lion’s share of seats in the newly formed State Duma.

1994 January: U.S. President Bill Clinton declares eastward expansion of NATO is inevitable; Trilateral Agreement on Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament is signed.18 January: Kozyrev signals a shift in foreign policy toward more Russian involvement in the “near abroad” based on fear of threats emanating from the region.5 January: Lithuania becomes the first post-Soviet republic to apply for NATO membership, angering Moscow.February: Agrarian Party of Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) are founded; striking communications workers pull the plug on television stations across half of the country; Russia gains the right to station troops along Georgia’s border with Turkey.15 February: Tatarstan and Moscow delimit their political and economic relations, bringing an end to fears of secession.21 February: CIA officer Aldrich Ames is arrested for providing classified information to the Russian security service.March: Kazakh-Russian ties are deepened; agreement on Baikonur Cosmodrome is reached; the last Russian long-range bombers leave the country.April: Ethnic Russians accuse Estonian government of ethnic cleansing.May: Russian peacekeepers are deployed along the Abkhazia-Georgia border; an MVD report states that organized crime controls a significant number of Russian companies.5 May: Bishkek Protocol is signed, producing a cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh War.27 May: Exiled author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia.June: U.S. and Russia agree to end plutonium production for nuclear weapons; the European Union (EU) concludes the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia.July: Voucher privatization process comes to an end.20 July: Alexander Lukashenko takes over as president of Belarus.August: Inflation reaches 50 percent per month; bilateral treaty signed between Russia and Bashkortostan.31 August: Russia completes its military withdrawal from Estonia and Latvia.September: Azerbaijan signs the “deal of the century” with Western oil companies to exploit the Caspian Sea, displeasing Moscow.3 September: Russia and China agree to end targeting of nuclear weapons at each other.October: Russian commitment to leave Transnistria is announced; Elizabeth II, Queen of England, visits Russia.November: Kozyrev declares Russia’s intention to counterbalance American dominance in the Middle East at a meeting with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.30 November: Abkhazia’s new constitution declares its independence from Georgia.December: Russia joins the Group of Seven, making it the G8.11 December: Russian troops enter Chechnya, initiating the first Chechen War.

1995 January: Russia expands its relationships with Kazakhstan and Belarus; Russo-Turkish protocol on combating terrorism is signed.8January: Zarubezhatomenergostroy, a Russian company, signs a deal to restart Iran’s nuclear reactor project at Bushehr.9 January: Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov completes 366 days aboard theMirspace station, breaking a duration record for space travel.February: Russian troops take control of Grozny; border controls between Russia and Belarus are abolished; a majority of Russians polled believe the country is sliding into chaos.10 February: “Memorandum on Maintaining Peace and Stability in the Commonwealth of Independent States” is signed by all 12 CIS members.15 February: Yeltsin initiates a new anticorruption program.March: Gazprom is privatized; Ukrainian government moves against Russian nationalists in the Crimea; North Ossetiya signs a power-sharing agreement with the Kremlin; support for continuing reforms reaches a nadir.27 March: Nikita Mikhalkov’sBurnt by theSunwins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.1April: Ukraine takes direct control of Crimea; U.S. and Russia sign a new $20 million deal on protecting nuclear weapons sites.3 April: The Federal Security Service (FSB) is created.21 April: Kozyrev reiterates Russia’s right to use military forces to protect ethnic Russians in the near abroad.May: Chernomyrdin announces his new political party named “Our Home—Russia.”31 May: Russia joins NATO’s PartnerCHRONOLOGY ship for Peace.June: Russia and Ukraine split the Soviet Black Sea Fleet.14 June: Hostage crisis in Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Krai, begins; 166 hostages are killed when Russian troops storm the hospital several days later.14 September: Communists in the State Duma attempt to impeach Yeltsin over his handling of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.25 October: Estonia and Russia make progress on lingering border disputes.December: Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev is replaced by Yevgeny Primakov.17 December: Communists emerge as leading political party after State Duma elections.

1996 January: Chechen gunmen take 2,000 hostages in Kizlyar, Dagestan; dozens die in subsequent fighting with Russian troops.22January: Russia is admitted to the Council of Europe.February: Yeltsin announces plans to run for the presidency despite low approval ratings; massive strike hobbles the mining industry.2 April: Commonwealth of Russia and Belarus is initiated.14 April: Yeltsin and Communist presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov attend Easter mass at the rebuilt Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.26 April: The Shanghai Five is created with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions between Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.30 April: Yeltsin warns his compatriots that if Zyuganov wins the presidency, a new “iron curtain” will fall over the country.May: IMF announces $10 billion in aid to Russia.9 May: Uzbek President Islam Karimov rejects further economic and political integration of the CIS.16 May: Yeltsin introduces a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia.17 May: CIS Summit results in universal support for Yeltsin’s reelection.30 May: Yeltsin condemns eastward expansion of NATO and calls for a reform of the military.June: Yeltsin articulates the future of Russian national identity as “multiethnic”; the nonethnic termrossiiskiiis used instead ofrusskiito refer to citizens of the Russian Federation.11 June: Four are killed by a bomb in the Tulskaya metro station in Moscow.16 June: First round of presidential elections; Yeltsin wins 35 percent of the vote and Zyuganov captures 32 percent.18 June: General Aleksandr Lebed is appointed as secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.26 June: Russianbrokered peace agreement ends the Tajik Civil War.July: The Russian Federation team participates for the first time in Olympic competition at the Atlanta Games.3 July: Runoff of presidential election results in a Yeltsin victory.9 August: Yeltsin is inaugurated.22 August: Cease-fire in Chechnya is agreed.31 August: Khasav-Yurt Accord effectively ends the first Chechen War.5 November: Chernomyrdin briefly assumes the role of head of state while Yeltsin undergoes heart surgery.November: Agreement on Russian withdrawal of troops from Chechnya is signed; Estonia abandons its claims to all Russian territory, ending a border dispute; Russia regains formal access to international capital markets.9 November: Undersea gas line from southern Russia to Turkey is announced.19 November: Major reduction of troop levels on the Sino-Russian border is announced.December: Russo-Iranian relations enter a new era with Primakov’s visit to Tehran; the Kremlin drops its opposition to the construction of a pipeline connecting the Caspian nations to Western Europe.

1997 1 January: Aslan Maskhadov is elected president of Chechnya.22 January: Hearings on Yeltsin’s poor health are called in the State Duma.February: Yasser Arafat visits Russia on his first stop as the elected president of the Palestinian Authority.17 February: Russia asserts that it has the right to threaten the use of nuclear strikes under certain circumstances.March: Clinton-Yeltsin summit in Helsinki; U.S. promises not to include post-Soviet states in NATO and Yeltsin admits legality of a U.S. missile defense shield.27 March: Limited nationwide strike over unpaid wages.April: Sino-Russian declaration on multipolarity in international politics.2 April: Union of Russia and Belarus is established.May: Yeltsin visits Kiev; Russia-Ukraine border issues are formally settled; Russia-NATO Founding Act is signed in Paris.12May: Treaty of Peace and Principles of Relations is signed between Moscow and Chechnya.17 June: Radiation leak at a nuclear research institute near Nizhny Novgorod.20 June: New port facilities in the Gulf of Finland are announced, allowing Russia to avoid transit of oil and natural gas through the Baltic States.8 July: Violating the terms of an earlier understanding, NATO invites former Warsaw Pact members Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary to join the alliance in 1999.23July: Yeltsin vetoes a controversial law that would provide extensive rights to the Russian Orthodox Church at the expense of other faiths and denominations.9 August: In order to cope with hyperinflation, the Central Bank announces it will remove three zeros from the ruble moving forward.10 October: GUAM Consultative Forum is established to counter Russian military dominance of the CIS.6 November: Yeltsin ratifies an international convention barring chemical weapons, and pledges to destroy existing stockpiles by 2007.23 November: Russia joins the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization.15December: Yeltsin is hospitalized with a “brain spasm.”30 December: Russian-Chinese nuclear deal worth $3 billion is signed.

1998 January: U.S-Baltic Charter establishes a pathway for the former Soviet states to join NATO.2 January: New ruble note is introduced.30 January: Yeltsin rules out running for another term in 2000.23 March: Sergey Kiriyenko, an economic reformer, is appointed prime minister; Yeltsin begins positioning the outgoing Chernomyrdin for a run for the presidency in 2000.April: Shamil Basayev temporarily assumes control of Chechnya while Maskhadov takes the hajj in Saudi Arabia; new laws banning narcotics and psychotropic drugs are introduced.May: Yeltsin’s representative in Chechnya, Valentin Vlasov, is kidnapped and held hostage for six months.9 May: Constitutional Court rules that Yeltsin is eligible to run for president in 2000.13 May: A bomb rips through Moscow’s Lubavitch synagogue.June: Russia signs a deal to support the development of nuclear reactors in India, despite a G8-imposed ban and Moscow’s condemnation of Indian nuclear tests earlier in the year.29 June: Yeltsin publicly denies the existence of an economic crisis in the country.17 July: The remains of the last Romanov tsar and his family are buried in St. Petersburg.25July: Vladimir Putin is appointed head of the FSB.12 August: Russian stock market dips to its lowest level in two years.17 August: The Russian financial crisis begins; the ruble will lose 70 percent of its value in the coming weeks.23 August: Yeltsin dismisses his government including Prime Minister Kiriyenko, replacing him with the veteran Chernomyrdin.31 August: Chernomyrdin declares the country is on the verge of economic and political collapse; U.S. President Clinton publicly urges Yeltsin to continue with reforms.September: Russian regions assume more control of their local economies following the federal government’s inaction.11 September: Stymied by the Duma over Chernomyrdin’s appointment, Yeltsin puts forth Yevgeny Primakov as prime minister; he is enthusiastically confirmed by the Duma.30 October: Russia turns to the U.S. for food aid after the season’s exceptionally poor harvest.16 November: German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder makes his first visit to Russia.20 November: Democratic activist and prominent politician Galina Starovoytova is gunned down.25 November: Lukoil and Gazprom establish a major strategic alliance.December: Belarus and Russia announce plans to develop common economic and military policy; Russia withdraws its ambassadors from Washington and London in protest over air strikes against Iraq.9 December: A Communist parliamentarian blames Jews in Yeltsin’s cabinet for conducting “genocide against the Russian people.”

1999 January: Azerbaijan invites the U.S. to establish a military base on its territory.17 February: Federation Council ratifies the Treaty for Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Russia and Ukraine; Chechnya begins a phased introduction of Islamic law.March: Russia angrily condemns NATO military strikes on Serbia.7 March: Plans for an invasion of Chechnya are announced, but not executed.12 March: The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland join NATO.20March: More than 60 are killed in a bomb blast in Vladikavkaz.29March: Putin becomes secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.1 April: Russia announces plans to send a warship to the Mediterranean to monitor the situation in Kosovo.16 April: The Duma recommends that Yugoslavia be admitted to the Union of Belarus and Russia.12 May: Sergey Stepashin replaces Primakov as prime minister; the appointment is seen as temporary.11 June: Russian troops occupy Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, despite promises not to enter the country before NATO troops.7 August: Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab launch an armed incursion into Dagestan.8 August: Yury Luzhkov’s “Fatherland” party announces its union with the “All Russia” bloc in advance of parliamentary elections.9 August: Vladimir Putin becomes Russia’s acting prime minister; Yeltsin backs Putin to assume the presidency.16 August: Putin is confirmed as the head of government.26 August: The Russian military acknowledges it has begun an aerial bombing campaign in Chechnya.27 August: Putin visits Dagestan, where he orders attacks on Wahhabist villages.September: Apartment bombings in Moscow and other cities kill 300 and are ultimately attributed to Ibn al-Khattab; “Unity” party is created to support Vladimir Putin’s candidacy for president.1 October: Putin declares the Maskhadov government in Chechnya to be illegitimate.5 October: Upward of 30,000 Russian troops begin moving into northern Chechnya.

12 October: Assault on Grozny begins.19 October: Putin promises the G7 that he will take a strong stand against international money laundering.

8 December: Treaty on the Creation of a Union State of Russia and Belarus is signed.11 December: EU threatens Russia with sanctions over its actions in Chechnya.19 December: Legislative elections are dominated by the Communists and the pro-Putin Unity.22 December: Tatarstan’s powerful governor Mintimer Shaymiyev switches his support to Putin, along with that of his All Russia bloc.31 December: Yeltsin unexpectedly announces his resignation; he appoints Prime Minister Putin as acting president and moves the presidential elections forward to March 2000.

PUTIN ERA(2000-2008)

2000 January: Poland expels nine Russian diplomats for spying; the Kremlin announces a 50 percent rise in defense procurement.February: Russian troops assume control of Grozny.12 February: Putin signs a federal law granting Yeltsin and his family immunity from prosecution.March: Putin visits Chechnya and orders a reduction in combat troops.26 March: Putin wins the presidential election with 53 percent of the vote.May: Presidential decree creates seven federal districts; World Bank report decries the “feminization of poverty” in Russia.

7 May: Putin is inaugurated as the second president of the Russian Federation; he appoints Mikhail Kasyanov as prime minister.25 May: Russia announces it has plans ready for air strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan.June: Media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky is jailed shortly after reporting that Putin was ready to bring cases against certain regional leaders, signaling the beginning of Putin’s campaign against the oligarchs; Putin and U.S. President Clinton meet in Moscow.

July: Fifty-four people are killed in a suicide bombing at a police station in Chechnya; Putin appoints former anti-Russian mufti Akhmad Kadyrov as head of the regional administration.19 July: President gains the right to dismiss regional governors.28 July: Putin meets with 21 of Russia’s leading oligarchs and instructs them that their hold over the Kremlin has come to an end.31 July: A new foreign policy doctrine is announced, with reintegrating protection of ethnic Russians as a top priority.12 August: TheKursksubmarine sinks in the Barents Sea, losing all hands on board.14 August: Tsar Nicholas II is canonized.28 September: New restrictions on guest workers from the CIS are imposed; customs and tariff agreement is signed by Iran, India, and Russia.30 October: Successful EU-Russia Summit makes way for improved relations with Brussels; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) backs Putin’s agenda for economic reforms.December: Ukrainian-Russian gas dispute is prompted by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma’s admission that the theft of gas was state sanctioned; Cuban-Russian relations are reinvigorated after Putin meets Fidel Castro.20 December: Major trade deal with Canada is signed.21 December: Duma approves the import of nuclear waste for storage.27 December: The new “National Anthem of Russia” is adopted; it reprises the post-1944 Soviet anthem’s music.

2001 5 February: A bomb blast in Moscow’s Belorusskaya metro station kills eight.18 February: American FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for Russia.March: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s visit to Russia marks a new era of relations; Russian economy returns to pre-1994 levels.23 March: TheMirspace station enters the earth’s atmosphere and crashes into the Pacific Ocean.April: Gazprom takes over control of NTV;Segodnya, a daily newspaper critical of the Kremlin, is shut down.10 April: New “pragmatic” alliance between Russia and Germany is announced.15 June: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is declared, recognizing the admission of Uzbekistan into the Shanghai Five.16 June: Putin meets the new U.S. president, George W. Bush, in Slovenia.11 July: New federal law places certain limits and restrictions on the formation of political parties.16 July: China and Russia sign the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.18 July: Putin declares that NATO has no reason to exist.11 September: Putin becomes the first world leader to speak with American President Bush after the 9/11 attacks.24 September: Putin publicly endorses the presence of U.S. troops in Central Asia as part of the campaign against the Taliban, and puts forth a new counterterrorism doctrine for Russia.27 September: Putin calls on NATO to admit Russia.October: Putin gives a well-received speech to Germany’s Bundestag in German; Russia conducts a series of raids against Chechen rebels in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge.November: Bush and Putin meet in Crawford, Texas.22 November: Putin changes course, stating that Russia has no interest in NATO membership.27December: Moldova-Russia Treaty of Friendship is ratified.29 December: Russia agrees to an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) request to cut oil production for the first six months of 2002, sending prices higher.

2002 January: Russia announces a deal to build advanced warships for China; Putin visits Poland, the first visit of a Russian president since 1993; Azeri President Heydar Aliyev declares a marked improvement in relations with Russia, calling Moscow a “strategic partner.”22 January: TV-6, the last nationally broadcast independent channel, ceases operations.February: Putin proposes an OPEC-like cartel for natural gas producers.20 March: Terrorist Ibn al-Khattab dies of poisoning.28April: Aleksandr Lebed dies in a helicopter crash.9 May: Bomb attack at Victory Day celebrations in the Dagestani city of Kaspiisk kills 42.June: Meskhetian Turks protest ethnic discrimination in Krasnodar with a hunger strike; deadly floods occur in southern Russia.26 June: Law is passed allowing private farmland.27 June: Russia gains full membership in the G8.August: Russian plans for new energy export routes in the Baltic and Barents seas worry neighbors; Moscow conducts military strikes in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge and its largest joint operation to date in the Caspian Sea.26 September: Chechen rebels make an incursion into Ingushetiya; Stalin-era mass grave is found near St. Petersburg.October: The Russian Federation’s first census is conducted; EU-Russian row over Kaliningrad.7 October: The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is founded.26 October: Nord-Ost theater siege leaves 130 hostages and 42 Chechen terrorists dead.30 November: Reduction in gas supplies to Belarus, following a dispute between Alexander Lukashenko and Putin over the Union of Belarus and Russia; Putin cancels a trip to Denmark in protest of Copenhagen’s harboring of Chechens.31October: Arrest warrant is issued for Boris Berezovsky.13 November: Duma restricts media freedoms related to the coverage of terrorism.21November: The Baltic States are invited to join NATO.December: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Chechnya is closed by Russian authorities.22 December: Moscow criticizes U.S. plans for an invasion of Iraq.27 December: Suicide bombing in Grozny destroys a four-story building and kills 72.

2003 January: Russia ends its participation in the United States Peace Corps program.February: France, Germany, and Russia jointly condemn the Anglo-American push for war with Iraq.5 March: Fiftieth anniversary of Stalin’s death demonstrates his growing popularity in Russia.10 March: Russia announces it will veto any UN resolution on using force against Iraq.23 March: Referendum in Chechnya backs new constitution.12 May: Suicide bombing in northern Chechnya kills dozens.28 May: Beijing and Moscow announce their intent to double foreign trade between the two countries.3 June: Russia temporarily halts export of nuclear technologies to Iran, though Moscow declares cooperation will continue.9 June: More than 100 suspected Islamist militants are arrested in Moscow.2 July: Russian troops, operating under the Kosovo Force (KFOR) command, withdraw from Kosovo after four years.6 July: “Black Widow” bomb attacks on a Moscow rock concert by female suicide bombers kills 15.16 July: Federal raid on Yukos offices.12 September: Britain refuses to extradite Boris Berezovsky.17 September: Putin announces that companies gained through illegal privatization will be dealt with in the courts.1 October: Earthquake in Siberia leaves 1,800 homeless.5 October: Akhmad Kadyrov is elected president of Chechnya.August: A suicide bomber driving a truck filled with explosives kills more than 50 people in an Ossetian hospital.25 October: Mikhail Khodorkovsky is arrested on fraud and tax evasion charges, triggering a drop in the stock market over economic fears.23 October: Vladimir Putin opens the Kant Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s first new foreign military installation since the end of the Cold War.2 November: Parliamentary elections in Georgia set off Rose Revolution that will bring Mikheil Saakashvili to power.3 November: Khodorkovsky resigns as head of Yukos, hoping to save the company.December: A female suicide bomber kills five outside the National Hotel in Moscow.7 December: Parliamentary elections are held, giving Putin backers control of the Duma; OSCE criticism of the elections follows.29 December: Boris Gryzlov becomes the new chair of the State Duma; authorities seize thousands of copies of books that suggest the FSB conducted the 1999 apartment bombings.30 December: Yukos is ordered to pay $3.5 billion in back taxes.

2004 February: A bomb in the Moscow metro near the Avtozavodskaya station leaves 41 dead; assassination of Chechen leader in Qatar leads to a diplomatic standoff between Moscow and Doha.24February: Viktor Khristenko becomes acting prime minister in the wake of Mikhail Kasyanov’s dismissal.5 March: Mikhail Fradkov is appointed prime minister.9 March: Sergey Lavrov becomes the new foreign minister.14 March: Putin easily wins the presidential election.29 March: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania join NATO, along with several other former members of the Warsaw Pact, prompting a warning from Moscow not to build up troops on its borders.1 April: New bill restricts the location of political rallies outside government buildings and other sites.1 May: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania join the European Union.9 May: Chechen President Kadyrov dies after a bomb blast at a stadium in Grozny.June: Chechen insurgents seize control of Nazran, Ingushetiya, for two days.16 June: Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s trial begins; Uzbekistan signs a strategic partnership with Russia, bringing the country back into Moscow’s sphere of influence.July: The motion pictureNight Watchbecomes the first Russian-made blockbuster since 1991.9 July: Russian-American journalist Paul Klebnikov is gunned down in Moscow.August: Bombs on two domestic flights claim 89 lives; a suicide bomber kills 10 and injures 30 at Moscow’s Rizhskaya metro station.September: Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko suffers from dioxin poisoning; he later implicates the Russian security service.1September: Beslan hostage crisis at School Number One begins, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 344 civilians.13 September: Putin calls for major restructuring of the country’s federal structure in order to combat terrorism.24 September: Russia presses the UN to adopt a stronger policy against international terrorism.30 September: The Duma begins the implementation of electoral reforms allowing the president to appoint regional governors.November: Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, bringing it into force.21 November: Runoff in the Ukrainian presidential election triggers the Orange Revolution and the reduction of Russian influence in the country.15 December: Yukos files for bankruptcy; its assets will ultimately fall to Rosneft.17 December: Parliament raises the minimum wage to 1,100 rubles per month.21 December: The international monitoring organization Freedom House downgrades Russia’s status to “Not Free.”24 December: Japan demands the return of the disputed Kuril Islands.30December: Turkmenistan cuts gas supplies to Russia.

2005 January: The MVD creates new units to combat the flow of trafficked persons across Russian territory.23 February: Bush-Putin summit in Bratislava signals an end to their previously warm relationship.March: Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan; ousted President Askar Akayev ultimately flees to Moscow.8 March: Aslan Maskhadov dies during an FSB-led operation to capture him.16 March: At the behest of Putin, the Duma approves the creation of the Public Chamber to oversee the regions.31 March: The Kremlin recognizes the depth of the HIV/ AIDS crisis in Russia.April: Agreement is reached on an undersea pipeline connecting Russia to Germany.15 April: Nashi youth movement is founded to prevent a “color revolution” in Russia.May: New benefits for mothers announced in order to increase Russia’s birth rate; row over the 50th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Baltics during World War II creates international controversy.13 May: Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan; Western condemnation of the crackdown will result in Uzbekistan forcing U.S. troops out of the country.25 May: Inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline; major power outages grip Moscow.31 May: Mikhail Khodorkovsky is sentenced to nine years for fraud and tax evasion.24 June: New mosque is opened in Kazan to mark the city’s millennium.29 June: Russia cancels $2.2 billion in African debt.June: Renewed conflict with Estonia over border issues.30 June: Russia gains observer status with the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).18 August: Joint Russian-Chinese military exercises begin on the Shandong Peninsula.21 September: The new president of Kyrgyzstan declares a new era of strategic partnership with Russia.29 September: The long-running and controversial “loans for shares” program is officially terminated.October: Attacks on government buildings in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkariya result in nearly 100 deaths.14 November: Treaty of Allied Relations is signed with Uzbekistan; Dmitry Medvyedev becomes deputy prime minister.December: Broadcasts of the international English-language channel Russia Today begin.19 December: Negotiations over Russia’s admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) fall through again.

2006 January: Russia forgives Afghanistan’s Soviet-era debt; significant espionage row erupts between Britain and Russia; a new law is passed giving the government oversight of nongovernmental organizations.1 January: Russia cuts gas exports to Ukraine; supply is reCHRONOLOGY stored three days later.February: Increased use of the term “sovereign democracy” demonstrates Putin’s resistance to Western-style political reform.21 February: Russia stops issuing entry visas to Georgian citizens.March: Russia bans the import of Georgian wine; attacks on ethnic minorities increase dramatically.18 March: Environmentalists protest pipelines to be built near Lake Baykal.10 May: Putin lashes out at the United States, calling the country “wolflike” in an address to the nation.19 March: Alexander Lukashenko retains his post, surviving the failed “Jeans Revolution” that followed disputed presidential elections in Belarus.29 June: Russia announces a new Arabic-language station to be launched by the end of the year; the Kremlin hires the multinational public relations agency Ketchum to improve its image worldwide.July: The Duma grants Putin the right to hunt down terrorists anywhere in the world.1 July: Currency controls are lifted to provide impetus to foreign investment in the country.10 July: Shamil Basayev is reported to have been killed in Ingushetiya.15 July: G8 summit begins in St. Petersburg.August: Three Japanese fishermen are detained near the Kuril Islands.September: Putin is awarded France’s highest military decoration for promoting friendship between the two countries.26 September: Russian-Georgian tensions deepen over a spy scandal.28 September: Transnistria votes for union with Russia in a nonbinding referendum.7 October: Liberal activist Anna Politkovskaya is gunned down.28 October: The Fair Russia political party is established.16 November: Russia and Pakistan expand their relationship, agreeing on a number of areas of cooperation.23 November: Aleksandr Litvinenko dies in a London hospital from polonium poisoning; the fallout will bring Russian-British relations to their lowest point since the Cold War.December: Belarus-Russian gas dispute interrupts flow to the European Union.21 December: New poll shows nostalgia for the USSR continues to rise 15 years after its dissolution; the longtime leader of Turkmenistan dies, putting in question the country’s relationship with Russia and gas deals.

2007 8 January: Russia cuts flow of oil across Belarus in a spat over illegal siphoning, harming relations with Germany.February: Russia condemns U.S. policies on Israel-Palestine.15 February: Ramzan Kadyrov is installed as Chechnya’s president.23 April: Boris Yeltsin dies.27 April: Beginning of cyberattacks on Estonia in the wake of the “Bronze Soldier” controversy.May: The U.S. acknowledges Russia’s return to superpower status.12 May: Major Russian-Turkmen gas deal is signed.29 May: Russia test fires new intercontinental ballistic missile.June: Garry Kasparov begins campaign against Putin.7 June: Putin invites the U.S. to establish missile defense in Azerbaijan.2 July: Bush hosts Putin at his family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, in an attempt to repair frayed relations between the two countries.14 July: Russia withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.26 July: Massive security operation begins in Ingushetiya following insurgent attacks.August: Russia makes an undersea territorial claim to the North Pole.7 August: Shanghai Cooperation Organization military exercises take place in Chelyabinsk.17 August: Putin announces plans to resume long-range strategic bomber flights.14 September: Viktor Zubkov becomes prime minister after Mikhail Fradkov’s resignation two days earlier.1 October: Putin signals plans to become prime minister in 2008.24 November: Beginning of the Dissenters’ Marches in St. Petersburg.29 November: Russian court finds Boris Berezovsky guilty of massive embezzlement in absentia.December: Russia closes regional offices of the British Council, triggering a further dip in bilateral relations.2 December: Legislative elections produce another resounding victory for the pro-Putin United Russia party.10 December: Putin backs Dmitry Medvyedev for president.17 December: United Russia picks Medvyedev as the party’s candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.21 December: Poland and the Baltic States gain admission to the Schengen visa-free zone, directly impacting trade along the countries’ Russian borders.31 December:Timemagazine names Putin “Person of the Year” for 2007.

2008 January: Dmitry Rogozin’s appointment as Russia’s representative to NATO signals a hard turn away from cooperation; Russia and Serbia sign a new deal on energy cooperation.22 January: Russia’s largest post-Soviet naval operations take place off the coast of France.17 February: Kosovo declares its independence, which is recognized by a number of European and North American states on the following day; the move is subsequently condemned by Russia, which blocks UN recognition.March: Moves by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO are roundly condemned in Moscow.2 March: Medvyedev is elected the third president of the Russian Federation, winning 70 percent of the vote.3 March: Gazprom cuts gas supplies to Ukraine for two days.April: Russia solidifies its relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, angering the Georgian leadership.

MEDVYEDEV ERA(2008-PRESENT)

2008 7 May: Medvyedev is sworn in as the third president of the Russian Federation.8 May: Putin becomes prime minister for the second time.7 August: The South Ossetian War begins with Georgian attacks on Tskhinvali; Russian troops cross the border the following day.12 August: A six-point peace plan is agreed, signaling the end of the Russo-Georgian conflict.20 August: U.S.-Poland deal on missile defense results in threats of military force by Russia.26 August: Medvyedev recognizes the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.3 September: Archeologists locate ancient Khazar capital in southern Russia.17 September: Medvyedev promises Abkhazia and South Ossetia military support against third parties.November: Russia expands its military presence in Central Asia.5 November: Russia announces it will deploy a new missile system and radar-jamming facilities in Kaliningrad in response to the U.S. missile defense shield in Central Europe.December: Frayed Russia-NATO relations begin to improve six months after the South Ossetian War.5 December: Patriarch Alexius II dies.14 December: Russian competitor wins Miss World 2008 title.22 December: Moscow police are flown to Vladivostok to squelch popular protests over tariffs on imported cars.31 December: Changes to the Russian Constitution come into force, lengthening the term of the Russian presidency and the term of office of Duma deputies.

2009 2 January: Countries in the Balkans report shortages of gas supplies as a row between Ukraine and Gazprom interrupts supplies.1February: Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.March: Moscow issues a global call for ethnic Russians to return to the country.10 March: Medvyedev inaugurates a multiyear reform of the civil service.28 March: New military forces are announced to police the Arctic Ocean.April: Uprising in Moldova pushes the country closer to the European Union and away from Russia.1 April: Medvyedev meets U.S. President Barack Obama in London in advance of the G8 summit.15 April: Medvyedev makes a speech supporting the growth of civil society in Russia, signaling his first major departure from Putin.June: Russia rejects full membership in OPEC.1 June: Russia closes all casinos in the country, except for those in four regions: Altay, Kaliningrad, the Black Sea coast, and Primorsky Krai.7 July: Obama meets Putin for the first time.9 July: Russia asks Kyrgyzstan for permission to build a new base after failing to oust the Americans from the country.14 July: Plans for an upgraded Black Sea naval base to replace Sevastopol are announced.August: Russian submarines ply the waters off the U.S. east coast in a bid to promote arms sales to India.17 August: An industrial accident at the SayanoShushenskaya hydroelectric plant in Khakasiya leaves 74 dead.29August: Venezuela recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the third UN member to do so.September: A row erupts between Poland and Russia over Moscow’s release of documents suggesting a pre–World War II German-Polish plan to destroy the USSR.20 September: U.S. President Obama scraps plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, reducing tensions with Moscow over the issue.30 September: An EU report finds that Georgia precipitated the 2008 South Ossetian War while condemning Russia for expanding the conflict to Abkhazia and allowing the ethnic cleansing of Georgian villages in South Ossetia.