- Vladimir Putin
President Vladimir Putin said air strikes did nothing to settle the situation around Iraq and urged any action taken against it to be sanctioned by the United Nations.
- Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Russian: Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев; born September 14, 1965 in Leningrad), is a Russian politician and businessman. He was appointed first deputy prime minister of the Russian government on November 14, 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, he is also the chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he has held for the second time since 2000.
- Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. She is currently the second ranked player in the world. At the end of 2006, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete. Sharapova has won two Grand Slam singles titles. She is the reigning U.S. Open champion, having defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2006 U.S. Open. Two years earlier, she defeated Serena Williams in the final at Wimbledon.
- Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (February 1 1931 - April 23 2007) was the first president of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations. On 12 June 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history.
- Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, surname more accurately romanized as Gorbachyov; born 2nd March 1931) is a Russian politician. He was the last leader of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until its collapse in 1991. His attempts at reform helped end the Cold War, and also ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and dissolved the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
- Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became Prime Minister (1946–1955) and President (1946–1969) of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Ho is most famous for leading the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. Ho was fluent in Vietnamese, several dialects of Chinese, English and French.
- Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (30 August 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and later a Russian dissident and writer. A son of a physician, Litvinenko was schooled in Nalchik, before being drafted into the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a private. After graduating in 1985 from the Kirov Higher Command School, he became a platoon commander in an Internal Troops regiment.
- Anna Kournikova
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova (Russian: Анна Сергеевна Курникова, "Anna Sergeevna Kurnikova;" born June 7, 1981) is a retired Russian professional tennis player and model. Although she never won a major singles tournament, she became one of the best known tennis players worldwide. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name (or misspellings of it) one of the most common search strings on Google.
- Ehud Olmert
Ehud Olmert ; born September 30, 1945) is the 12th and current Prime Minister of Israel. Olmert became Prime Minister on April 14, 2006 but had been exercising the powers of the office since they were transferred to him on January 4, 2006 after Ariel Sharon suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke. Olmert's title for that period was Acting Prime Minister. Olmert has previously been the Vice Prime Minister of Israel, Finance minister, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, …
- Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966 in Saratov, Russia) is a Russian oil billionaire and the main owner of private investment company Millhouse Capital, referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs. According to the 2006 "Forbes" magazine, as of 13 February 2006, he had a net worth of $18.2 billion, and according to Russian "Finance" magazine, as of January 2007, his fortune was $21.0 billion.
- Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy dedicated websites *Leo Tolstoy museum in Yasnaya Polyana *State Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow Biographies and critiques *Illustrated Biography online at University of Virginia *Tolstoy and Popular Literature - Several scientific papers from the University of Minnesota *Brief bio *Leo Tolstoy's Life - Tolstoy's personal, professional and world event timeline, and synopsis of his life from Masterpiece Theatre.
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (born June 26, 1963) is a Russian businessman, a former Komsomol activist who became one of Russia's oligarchs at a very early age. He was later convicted for fraud and tax evasion and received a 9-year sentence. As of 2004, Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia, and was the 16th wealthiest man in the world, …
- Marat Safin
Marat Safin ; b. January 27, 1980) is a Russian former World No. 1 tennis player of Tatar ethnicity. Safin began his professional career in 1997 and held the No. 1 world ranking for 9 weeks in November and December of 2000. He is known for his large physical size, athleticism, controversial antics, and aggressive "power" style of play. He is fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.
- Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (born January 31, 1953, Leningrad) is a first deputy prime minister of Russia and former minister of defense (March 2001 - February 2007). Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and later President Vladimir Putin (November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security.
- Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov (16 August, 1910) was a Russian painter and graphic artist. He was a member of "peredvizhniks" ("the Wanderers") and a co-founder of the Union of Russian Artists. Most of his paintings were on topics taken from the history of Russia, peasant life, and the Russian Revolution of 1905.
- Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Ivanov was a correspondent for St. Petersburg daily "Nevskoye Vremya", was last seen by his colleagues on June 16, 1995, when he left to Chechnya. Ivanov was going to look for "Nevskoye Vremya" journalists Maxim Chabalin and Felix Titov, who had not been heard from since they disappeared in Chechnya on February 27, 1995.
- Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko ; born June 2, 1981 in Severodonezk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union) is currently the number one ranked Russian male tennis player, fifth in the world, and the winner of ten ATP singles titles. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semi-finals at the 2005 Roland Garros, 2006 US Open and again at the 2007 French Open.
- Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist and human rights activist well known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and the Putin administration. She held Russian and US citizenship. She was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building on 7 October 2006. Politkovskaya made her name reporting from Chechnya for Russia's liberal newspaper, "Novaya Gazeta". The BBC described her writing as "often polemical, …
- Elena Dementieva
Elena Vyacheslavovna Dementieva (pronounced: L-e-nuh de-MENT-ye-vuh Russian:); born October 15, 1981, Moscow), is a professional tennis player from Russia.
- Boris Berezovsky
Boris Abramovich Berezovsky a.k.a. Platon Elenin is a Russian-born billionaire. He emigrated to the UK in 2001, where he was granted political asylum.
- Leon Trotsky
"' (– August 21 1940), born Leon Davidovich Bronstein"', was a Ukrainian-born Jewish Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. He was an influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union, first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo.
- Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand (March 6 1982), born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher, best known for creating a philosophy she named "Objectivism" and for writing the novels "We the Living," "The Fountainhead," "Atlas Shrugged" and the novella "Anthem." Her influential and controversial ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciation. <br
- Garry Kimovich Kasparov
After long term friction with the international chess organisation, FIDE, Kasparov set up the rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) and arranged a World Championship match in 1993 in which he beat British Grandmaster, Nigel Short. At the same time FIDE held their official Championship match between former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman which Karpov won. Both Kasparov and Karpov claim the title of World Champion.
- Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (Cyrillic: ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the fourth ranked women's player in the world.
- Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Kalantaryan) (born March 21, 1950, in Moscow) is the Foreign Minister of Russia. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala, which he learned while in Sri Lanka. He plays guitar, writes poetry and rafts.
- David Blaine
David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an American illusionist and stunt performer. He made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. His father was Spanish-Puerto Rican and his mother, Patrice White, was of Jewish and Russian origin.
- Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (better known by the alias 'Lenin', was a Russian revolutionary, a communist politician, the main leader of the October Revolution, the first head of the Soviet Union, and the primary theorist of Leninism, a variant of Marxism.
- Boris Berezovsky
Boris Berezovsky works regularly as concerto soloist with orchestras including the Concertgebouw, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre de la Monnaie, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Hessischer Rundfunk, New Japan Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev, Antonio Pappano.
- Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, considered by many in both the West and his native land to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by "Time" magazine as one of the most influential people of the century. In addition to the recognition he received for his compositions, he also achieved fame as a pianist and a conductor, often at the premieres of his works.
- Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Hero of the Soviet Union, was a Soviet cosmonaut. On 12 April 1961, he became the first man in space and the first to orbit the Earth. He also received many medals from his home country for his pioneering tour in space.
- Igor Ivanov
Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov (b. September 23, 1945 in Moscow) became the Russian Foreign Minister in 1998, succeeding Yevgeny Primakov. He is the son of a Russian father and a Georgian mother. In 1969 he graduated at the Maurice Thorez Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages (Moscow State Linguistic University). He joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry in 1973 and spent a decade in Spain. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1983. In 1991 he became the ambassador in Madrid.
- Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djamalovna Chakvetadze (born March 5, 1987, Moscow) is a Russian professional tennis player. On June 25, 2007, she reached her career-high pro singles ranking of #7 in the world. She began playing tennis at the age of eight after being introduced to the sport by her mother, Natalia. She travels for tournaments with her father. She speaks both Russian and English.
- Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev (1959-February 232007) was a Russian journalist whose grandfather and namesake, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, held the top leadership post of First Secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party from 1953 to 1964. Five years after his birth in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, young Nikita's privileged position was drastically diminished as his grandfather was removed from power on October 141964 and died in retirement seven years later.
- Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor (born February 18, 1980) is a Russian-born American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered on New York City's East Village.
- Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina (Russian: Дина́ра Муби́новна (Миха́йловна) Са́фина), born April 27, 1986, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar origins. She was born in Moscow, USSR (now Russia), where she currently lives. She is the younger sister of tennis player, former world number one Marat Safin. She is coached by Glen Schaap, former trainer of Nadia Petrova.
- Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev ; surname more accurately romanized as Khrushchyov ; – September 11, 1971) was the chief director of the Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin. He was First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. He was removed from power by his party colleagues in 1964 and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
- Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (born December 12, 1982 in Moscow, Russia) is a professional male tennis player from Russia. Tursunov, like his countrymen Marat Safin and Igor Andreev, left Russia at an early age. In Tursunov's case, he was 12 years old when he moved overseas to further his prospects of becoming a professional player. Unlike Safin and Andreev who went to Valencia, Spain, Tursunov went to live in the U.S. and has lived there ever since, …
- Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny (Russian: "'"'; b. June 25, 1982, Moscow, USSR) (now Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia. Youzhny is noted for his consistency and all court play style.
- Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova is a professional tennis player from Russia. Petrova's career high ranking is World No. 3, a ranking she achieved after beating Justine Henin in the final of the Qatar Telecom German Open in May 2006. She has reached the French Open semi-finals twice in her career, once in 2003 and again in 2005. As of July 9 2007, she is the No. 9 player in the world.
- Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili (born December 21, 1967) is a Georgian politician and the current President of Georgia. He succeeded, on January 25, 2004, Nino Burjanadze, who acted as a president after President Eduard Shevardnadze stepped down in Georgia's 2003 bloodless Rose Revolution, led by Saakashvili and his major political allies, Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania. Some non-Georgian sources spell his name via the Russian as Mikhail.