The following lists events that happened during 1979 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Incumbents
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) Premier of the Soviet Union: Alexei Kosygin (1964–1980)
Events
1979 Soviet economic reform
Soviet–Afghan War
Births
19 January – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian artistic gymnast
22 January – Olga Dolzhykova, Ukrainian-Norwegian chess player and educator. 26 January - Artem Datsyshyn, Ukrainian ballet dancer (d. 2022) 1 February - Mikhail Rudkovskiy, former Russian professional football player 30 July - Denis Churkin, former Russian professional football player
Deaths
6 February – Issa Pliyev, military commander (born 1903) 18 March – Iskhak Razzakov, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kirghizia (1950-1961) (born 1910) 7 May – Aleksei Smirnov, actor (born 1920) 25 September – Yury Kovalyov, Soviet footballer (born 1934)