Events in the year 2011 in Russia.
Incumbents
President of Russia – Dmitry Medvedev (United Russia) Prime Minister of Russia – Vladimir Putin (United Russia)
Events
January 1 - Kolavia Flight 348: Four people are killed and around 40 injured after a passenger plane explodes in Surgut in eastern Russia. January 22 - At least two people are killed in a blaze at a shopping centre in the southwest Russian city of Ufa. January 24 - 2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing: At least 35 people are killed and 130 injured after a suicide bombing at Domodedovo International Airport in the Russian capital Moscow. January 26 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fires top airport security officials, two days after the suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport. February 9 - Serial blasts rock Russia's Grozny, at least five people are wounded. February 28 - Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, explains that the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been delayed in opening due to damage to the nuclear reactor's cooling pumps. March 1 - As part of the Russian police reform, the Russian law enforcers' name was changed from "Militsiya" (militia) to "Politsiya" (police). March 27 - Russia switching to permanent daylight saving time (DST) under a decree President Dmitry Medvedev signed a month earlier. April 18 - The Movement Against Illegal Immigration was banned by the Moscow City Court. May 2 - The UN Security Council fails to agree a statement to condemn the killing of Syrian protesters, as Russia and China block a statement proposed by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal that would have condemned the violence, which has led to hundreds of dead, and backed calls for an independent investigation. May 4 - Russian security forces kill Doger Sevdet, an al-Qaeda emissary who fought alongside Chechen insurgents, in the northern Caucasus region of Russia. May 6 - Russia launches an urgent rescue mission after the nuclear-powered icebreaker Taymyr in its fleet develops a nuclear leak in the frozen seas of the Arctic and was forced to abandon its mission. May 6 - A court in Russia sentences ultranationalist Nikita Tikhonov to life imprisonment for the murder of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova in 2009. May 19 - The Eurasian Economic Community, led by Russia, offers Belarus a $3 billion bailout package. May 30 - Documents discovered in a Russian archive suggest that Adolf Hitler ordered Rudolf Hess to go to the United Kingdom to negotiate with Winston Churchill over a World War II peace deal in 1941. June 2 - 42 people are injured and 13,000 people evacuated from settlements in Russia's Udmurt Republic following an ammo depot fire. June 3 - 57 people are injured, and 28,000 people have been forced to evacuate, following an explosion at an army munitions depot in Russia's western Ural Mountains region. July 20 - Beer is legally reclassified from a foodstuff to an alcoholic drink so that its sale will be more strongly controlled. September 7 - 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash: A Yak Service Yak-42 carrying the KHL hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashes near Yaroslavl, Russia, killing 44.
Popular culture
Sports
January 5 - Russia men's national junior ice hockey team won the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. May - The Russian professional basketball team UNICS Kazan wins the Eurocup Basketball competition.
Births
Notable deaths
January
January 1 -
Nikolay Abramov, 26, Russian footballer. George Alexandrovich Ball, 83, Russian writer. January 4 - Chrysanth Chepil, 73, Russian Orthodox prelate, Metropolitan of Vyatka-Slobodskoy. January 6 - Pyotr Sumin, 64, Russian politician, Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast (1996–2010). January 31 - Nikolay Dorizo, 87, Russian poet.
February
February 3 - Tatyana Shmyga, 82, Russian operetta singer and film actress (Hussar Ballad), People's Artist of the USSR, vascular disease. February 24 - Sergei Nikitich Kovalev, 91, Russian designer of nuclear submarines. February 25 - Valery Bezruchenko, 70, Russian clarinetist and music teacher.