Events from the year

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

in the country of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Incumbents

*President:

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

(until 8 May),

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

(from 8 May) *Prime Minister:

Viktor Zubkov Viktor Alekseyevich Zubkov ( rus, Ви́ктор Алексе́евич Зубко́в, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ zʊpˈkof; born 15 September 1941) is a Russian civil servant, politician and businessman who served as the List of h ...

(until 8 May),

(from 8 May) *Minister of Defence:

Anatoliy Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov (; born 8 January 1962) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was Russia's Minister of Defense from 15 February 2007 to 6 November 2012, and made several major reforms in the Russian military. He has worked a ...

Events

* March 2:

2008 Russian presidential election 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

is occurred,

won the election. * May 7:

becomes President of Russia. * May 24:

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (, ; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan [] on 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer. In 2002, Bilan participated in the first edition of New Wave. At the end of the contest, he finished in fourth place. He represented Russ ...

wins the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

* August 7–16:

Russia–Georgia war The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

* August 8–11:

Battle of Tskhinvali The Battle of Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალის ბრძოლა; ) was a fight for the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia. It was the only major battle in the Russo-Georgian War. Georgia ...

* August 9–12:

Battle of the Kodori Valley The Battle of the Kodori Valley was a military operation during the Russo-Georgian War in the Upper Kodori Valley of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. It was the only part of Abkhazia under Georgian control before this military conflict. ...

* August 9/10:

Battle off the coast of Abkhazia The Battle off the coast of Abkhazia was a supposed naval engagement between warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Georgian patrol boats during the Russo-Georgian War. The engagement On 10 August 2008, RIA Novosti – quoting a source i ...

* August 9–19:

Occupation of Poti The Occupation of Poti was a series of Russian strikes against the Georgian port of Poti during the Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. The city was later occupied by Russian troops, who remained for some time before eventually withdrawing. Bac ...

* August 13–22:

Occupation of Gori During the Russo-Georgian War, the city of Gori in Georgia was militarily occupied by Russia for a period of nine days, beginning on 13 August 2008. Although it ultimately withdrew from Gori on 22 August, the Russian military has been occupying ...

* February – The Russian group

Voina Voina ( rus, Война, p=vɐjˈna, a=Ru-война.ogg, t=War) is a Russian street-art group known for their provocative and politically charged works of performance art. The group has had more than sixty members, including former and curren ...

staged the

Fuck for the heir Puppy Bear! Fuck for the Heir Puppy Bear! () was a political-artistic performance staged by Russian performance group Voina at the Timiryazev State Biological Museum in Moscow in February 2008. Among the participants, Nadya Tolokonnikova (singer of Pussy Riot ...

performance at the Timiryazev State Biological Museum in Moscow to protest at the election of

in the

Births

Deaths

*January 3 **

Aleksandr Abdulov Aleksandr Gavrilovich AbdulovАбдулов Г. Д.
Ферганский г� ...

, actor (b.

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

) **

Nikolay Puzanov Nikolay Vasilyevich Puzanov (; 7 April 1938 – 3 January 2008) was a Soviet biathlete. He was a 4 × 7.5 km relay gold medalist at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. Biathlon results All results are sourced from the Internatio ...

, Russian Soviet biathlete and 1968 Olympic Gold medalist (b.

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

) *January 12 -

Gennady Bachinsky Gennady Nikolaevich Bachinsky/Bachynsky (; 1 September 1971 – 12 January 2008) was a Russian TV and radio host and producer who usually collaborated with Sergei Stillavin (Сергей Стиллавин). Early life He was born on September 1 ...

, radio talk show host and producer (b.

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

) *January 15 -

Artyom Sergeyev Artyom Fyodorovich Sergeyev (; 5 March 1921 – 15 January 2008) was the adopted son of Joseph Stalin. He became a major general in the Soviet military. Sergeyev's biological father, Fyodor Sergeyev, a close friend of Stalin, died in an Aer ...

, Soviet Major general and adopted son of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

(b.

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

) *February 15 -

Mikhail Solomentsev Mikhail Sergeyevich Solomentsev (; – 15 February 2008) was a Soviet politician and statesman. Early life He was born near Yelets and graduated from the Leningrad Technological Institute in 1940. Career Solomentsev was a leading Communist P ...

, Soviet statesman (b.

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

) *February 19 -

Yegor Letov Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (), as well as the founder of the con ...

, poet (b.

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

) *February 29 -

Vitaly Fedorchuk Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk (; ; 27 December 1918 – 29 February 2008) was a Soviet security and intelligence officer and politician who served as Chairman of the Committee for State Security of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1 ...

, Minister of Interior Affairs of the Soviet Union (1982-1986) (b.

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

) *May 20 -

Viktor Bortsov Viktor Andreyevich Bortsov (; June 14, 1934 in Orenburg, USSR – May 20, 2008 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet/Russian theatrical and cinema actor. He was a People's Artist of RSFSR. Bortsov was best known as Savva Ignatyevich in the 1982 film ...

, theatrical and cinema actor (b.

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

) *June 3 -

Grigory Romanov Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov (; 7 February 1923 – 3 June 2008) was a Soviet politician and member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1985, he was considered Mikhail Gorbachev's main rival in the succes ...

, First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Party Committee (1970-1983) (b.

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

) *July 6 -

Nonna Mordyukova Noyabrina Viktorovna Mordyukova (Russian: Ноябри́на (Но́нна) Ви́кторовна Мордюко́ва; 25 November 1925 – 6 July 2008) was a Soviet and Russian actress and People's Artist of the USSR (1974). She was the star o ...

, actress (b.

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

) *July 11 - Anatoly Pristavkin, writer and public figure (b.

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

) *July 25 -

Mikhail Pugovkin Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin (; 13 July 1923 — 25 July 2008) was a Soviet and Russian comic actor named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1988. He studied in the Moscow Art Theatre school under Ivan Moskvin, took part in World War II and, follow ...

, comic actor (b.

) *August 3 -

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

, writer (b.

) *August 9 - Denis Vetchinov,

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

major (b.

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

) *September 14 -

Gennady Troshev Gennady Nikolayevich Troshev (; 14 March 1947 – 14 September 2008) was a Russian colonel general and a former commander of the North Caucasus Military District, including Chechnya, during the Second Chechen War. He was awarded a Hero of Russia ...

, colonel general (b.

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

) *September 24 -

Ruslan Yamadayev Ruslan (Khalid or Halid) Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev () (10 December 1961 – 24 September 2008) was a Chechen military leader and politician. A member of the high-profile Yamadayev family, he was assassinated in Moscow in 2008. He was one of Kre ...

, Chechen warlord and member of Russian

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

(b.

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

) *October 1 -

Boris Yefimov Boris Yefimovich Yefimov (; ,The birth record of Boris Fridlyand (Boris Yefimov) in the metric book of the Kiev rabbinate for 1900 ( ЦГИАК Украины. Ф. 1164. Оп. 1. Д. 454. Л. 435об—436.) (rus) – October 1, 2008) was a Russi ...

, political cartoonist (b.

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

) *October 25 - Muslim Magomayev, opera and pop singer (b.

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

) *November 20 -

Boris Fyodorov Boris Grigoryevich Fyodorov (; 13 February 1958 – 20 November 2008) was a Russian economist, politician, and reformer. Early life He was awarded a doctor of economics degree from the Moscow Finance Institute and authored over 200 publicatio ...

, politician and economist (b.

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

) *December 2 -

Pyotr Latyshev Pyotr Mikhaylovich Latyshev (; 30 August 1948 – 2 December 2008) was the Presidential Envoy to Ural Federal District, Russia. He had the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. Latysh ...

, 1st Russian Presidential Envoy to the

Urals Federal District Ural Federal District ( rus, Уральский федеральный округ, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its population was 12,080,523 (79.9% urban) according to the ...

(b.

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

) *December 5 -

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow Patriarch Alexy II (or Alexius II, ; secular name Aleksei Mikhailovich Ridiger ; 23 February 1929 – 5 December 2008) was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Elected Patriarch of Moscow ...

, 15th

Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus (), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the title of the Primate (bishop), primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). It is often preceded by the honorific "His Holiness". As the Ordinar ...

(b.

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

)

References

External links