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| 1547 | Ivan IV the Terrible |  |
| Moscow Renewal of the Empire through absolute autocracy |
| 1549 | Ivan IV the Terrible | |
| Moscow Convenes the 1st National Assembly, Zemski Sobor |
| 1741 | Elizabeth | |
| Abolishes Cabinet Council Government |
| 1767 | Catherine II the Great | |
| A commission of 564 Deputies is appointed for the modernization of the State |
| 1785 | Catherine II the Great | |
| The Nobility Charter grants limited rights of noble assembly & provincial government |
| 1863 | Alexander II | |
| A secret National Government is formed in Warsaw |
| 1879 | Battenburg | |
| Appointed monarchical head of State, ruled by him with Russian advisers |
| The National Assembly introduces a Constitution |
| 1903 | Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov | |
| July London Wnats rule 1 for members to "participate in one of the organizations of the party" |
| 1903 | Martov, Yuly Osipovich | |
| Rule 1, "work under the control & guidance of 1 of the organizations of the party" |
| 1904 | Nicholas II | |
| 12th Dec Changes agreed by the Tsar become law, still no representitive form of government |
| 12th Dec The Zemstvo are given a broader national & local role |
| 1904 | Plehve, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich | |
| 4th Feb Moscow Authorizes Gapon's Assembly |
| 1905 | Nicholas II | |
| 18th Feb Asks for "suggestions" "concerning improvement of the state & the nation's well-being" |
| 19th Aug Moscow Signs a manifesto summoning the Imperial Duma |
| 19th Aug Moscow The Duma has advisory powers but is without legislative authority |
| 17th Oct Signs the "October Manifesto", establishing the State Duma as the elected legislature |
| 17th Oct Under the October Manifesto laws must be approved by the State Duma |
| 30th Oct St Petersburg Issues a manifesto granting a suffrage law for elections to the Duma |
| 30th Oct St Petersburg Issues a manifesto granting freedom of speech, conscience & Assembly |
| 30th Oct St Petersburg Issues a manifesto granting the right of Labour to organize |
| 1905 | Trotsky, Leon | |
| "We are given a Constitution but absolutism remains" |
| 1905 | Witte | |
| 17th Oct Under the October Manifesto laws must be approved by the State Duma |
| 22nd Oct Moscow Writes to the Tsar warning Russia is on the verge of revolution |
| 30th Oct Moscow Appointed Prime Minister of Russia, Russia's 1st Prime Minister |
| 1906 | Stolypin, Pyotr Arkadyevich | |
| 23rd April The first Russian constitution, known as the Fundamental Laws was enacted on the eve of the opening of the first State Duma |
| 26th April Moscow The new fundemental laws for the constitution are made public |
| 1907 | Stolypin, Pyotr Arkadyevich | |
| Moscow Members of the Duma must speak Russia in their ethnic lands |
| Moscow Stolypin's allows ethnic groups in the Duma but they must speak Russian in their lands |
| Moscow Stolypin's electoral law allows ethnic groups in the Duma |
| Moscow Stolypin's electoral law allows ethnic groups into the Duma |
| Moscow Under Stolypin's constitutional law ethnic groups must speak Russian in their lands |
| Mar Moscow Stolypin announces a reform program |
| 1915 | Nicholas II | |
| Aug Moscow The government authorizes the creation a national Zemstvo |
| Aug Moscow The government authorizes the creation Municipal Council organizations |
| 21st Aug Moscow Most Ministers request that the Duma be allowed to form a cabinet |
| 1917 | Kerensky, Alexander Fedorovich | |
| 9th Aug Moscow The Provisional Government schedules Constituent Assembly elections for 12 Nov |
| 26th Aug Moscow Assumes dictatorial powers & dismisses Kornilov |
| 1917 | Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov | |
| In the April Theses states that Russia will become a republic of soviets |
| 3rd June The First All-Russia Congress of Workers and Soldiers Soviets opens |
| 25th Oct The 2nd all-Russian Congress of Soviets proclaims transfer of power to the Soviets |
| 26th Oct Congress approves the the Council of People's Commissars |
| Dec A Bolshevik decree establishes the Supreme Economic Council over all economic bodies |
| 1917 | Rodzianko, Mikhail Vladimirovich | |
| 2nd Mar Moscow Duma & Soviet representitives reach agreement on the basis of an 8 point program |
| 1918 | Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov | |
| Moscow The Congress of Soviets cede their primacy of power to the Government |
| 7th Jan Moscow Dissolves the Constituent Assembly & "establishes the dictatorship of the proletariat" |
| 19th Jan Moscow Issues a decree abolishing the Constituent Assembly |
| 31st Jan Moscow Declaration of the USSR |
| 4th July Moscow A Congress Opens in Moscow & approves the Soviet Constitution |
| 1921 | Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov | |
| Moscow Power is ceded from the Government to the Politburo |
| 1924 | Stalin, Joseph | |
| Eliminates the opposition of Trotsky, Kamanev, Bukharin & Rykov |
| 1936 | Bukharin, Nikolai | |
| Pens the new constitution |
| 1936 | Stalin, Joseph | |
| 5th Dec Establishes a Federal State consisting of 11 Soviet Republics |
| 5th Dec Establishes the USSR Supreme Soviet, supreme agency of state power in the Soviet Union |
| 5th Dec Supreme Soviet consists of the Soviet of the Union & the Soviet of the Nationalities |
| 5th Dec The Supreme Soviet elects a Presidium the chairman of which becomes the Head of State |
| 5th Dec The Supreme Soviet is elected for 4 years & meets twice a year |
| 5th Dec The VTsIK, All-Union Central Exec Comm of the soviets becomes the Supreme Soviet |
| 1946 | Stalin, Joseph | |
| Founds the Council of Ministers |
| 1948 | Stalin, Joseph | |
| 7th June London Authorizes the Lander & provisional assemblies to open a constituent assembly |
| 1961 | Khruschev, Nikita Sergeyevich | |
| 14th Oct Moscow The Central Committee plenum adopts a new Party programme replacing that of 1919 |
| 1964 | Brezhnev, Leonoid Ilych | |
| 14th Oct The Central Committee decides First Secretary Prime Minister must be separate |
| 1977 | Brezhnev, Leonoid Ilych | |
| The Supreme Soviet is made the supreme legislative body |
| 1987 | Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich | |
| Jan Moscow Proposes elections for party officials, a practice which is soon adopted |
| Mar Moscow Pravda announces larger constituencies & more candidates than seats in local elections |
| 1988 | Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich | |
| Oct Glasnost leads to the USSR Supreme Soviet dissenting with the Politburo & Central Comm |
| 29th Nov The Congress of People's Deputies will be elected except for 750 nominated by the CPSU |
| 29th Nov The Congress of People's Deputies will elect the Supreme Soviet |
| 29th Nov The Congress of People's Deputies will have 2,250 members |
| 29th Nov The Supreme Soviet abolishes itself |
| 29th Nov The Supreme Soviet agrees to the foundation of the Congress of People's Deputies |
| 1989 | Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich | |
| Moscow In front of the Central Committtee says Russia must be restructured |
| Moscow The Head of the Presidium officially is recognized as the President of Russia |
| Mar Moscow The USSR Supreme Soviet is replaced by the USSR Congress of Peoples Deputies |
| Mar Yeltsin's presence in the Supreme Soviet's Chamber of People's Deputies provided a focus for the reformist minority, the legislature becomes a more pluralist body than Gorbachev intends |
| 1989 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| Mar Yeltsin's presence in the Supreme Soviet's Chamber of People's Deputies provided a focus for the reformist minority, the legislature becomes a more pluralist body than Gorbachev intends |
| 1990 | Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich | |
| Moscow Chairs a committee elected by the CPD to replace the 1977 constitution |
| 7th Feb Moscow The Cental Committee of the CP in USSR votes to end the CP political monopoly |
| 15th Mar Sworn in as the 1st executive President of the USSR |
| 8th June Moscow Russian Parliament votes its laws take precedence over the USSR |
| 12th June Moscow The Russian Federation declares itself a sovereign state |
| 1990 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| Appointed Member of the Constitutional Committee elected by the CPD |
| 12th June Yeltsin leads a vote at the Congress of Peoples Deputies on a "declaration of Sovereignty for Russia" |
| 1991 | Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich | |
| 17th Mar Moscow A small majority for his proposal for a federation of socialist sovereign republics |
| 3rd June Moscow Gorbachev announces a final agreement on a treaty designed to preserve the Soviet federation while giving more power to the republics |
| 3rd June Moscow The USSR is renamed the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics |
| 12th June Russia stages it 1st ever general election |
| 12th June St Petersburg The people of Leningrad vote by 55% to 43% to change their city name to St Petersburg |
| 25th Dec Moscow Gorbachev resigns his position as President of the USSR, signifying the demise of the Soviet Union, 14 former Soviet republics (including Russia) become independent states |
| 25th Dec Moscow The USSR ceases to exist |
| 25th Dec Moscow The USSR ends after republics declare independence |
| 1991 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| 12th June Moscow Yeltsin consolidates his position when he is elected to the newly created position of Russian Executive President |
| 10th July Yeltsin takes the oath of office as the first elected president of the Russian republic |
| 20th July Yeltsin bans political activity in government offices and republic-run businesses, effectively curtailing the influence of the Communist Party |
| 23rd July The draft of a new platform for the Soviet Communist Party is published, calling for private property, economic integration into world market and freedom of religion |
| 9th Dec Gorbachev challenges Yeltsin's declaration that the Soviet Union was dead, branding a new Slavic commonwealth "illegal and dangerous" |
| 12th Dec Yeltsin wins landslide approval in the Russian legislature for his new commonwealth, while Soviet President Gorbachev edges closer to resigning, saying, "The main work of my life is done" |
| 13th Dec Five Central Asian republics of the Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) agree to join the new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) being organized by Russian President Boris Yeltsin |
| 17th Dec Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agree to dissolve the Soviet Union by the new year |
| 23rd Dec President Bush speaks by telephone with Russian President Yeltsin, after which a senior Bush administration official said the United States would extend diplomatic recognition to the Russian republic |
| 25th Dec Yeltsin bans the CPSU, sequestering its considerable assets and skillfully engineering the Soviet Union's peaceful dissolution |
| 1992 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| 29th Jan The Russian congress adopts a resolution affirming Russia's membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States in a victory for President Boris Yeltsin |
| 1993 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| Yeltsin argues that the existing, heavily amended 1978 constitution of Russia was obsolete and self-contradictory and that Russia needs a new constitution granting the president greater power |
| Yeltsin forms a constitutional assembly, which produces a draft constitution providing for a strong executive, and to shape the outcome of the December 1993 referendum on Russia's new basic law |
| Dec Russians approve a new constitution giving the President greater powers |
| Dec The 1993 constitution creates a dual executive consisting of a president and prime minister, but the president is the dominant figure |
| Dec The 1993 constitution declares Russia a democratic, federative, law-based state with a republican form of government, State power is divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches |
| Dec The content of laws must be made public before they take effect, and they must be formulated in accordance with international law and principles |
| 1995 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| May The Law on Presidential Elections, ratified in May 1995, establishes the legal basis for presidential elections |
| May The law requires that at least 50 percent of eligible voters participate in order for a presidential election to be valid |
| May TheThe Law on Presidential Elections requires that the winner receive more than 50% of votes cast, if no candidate receives more than 50% the 1st 2 must stand against each other |
| 1999 | Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich | |
| 31st Dec Unity's electoral success gives Yeltsin the confidence to resign in favour of Prime Minister Putin (who becomes Acting President upon Yeltsin's resignation) |
| 2000 | Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich | |
| Putin divides Russia's 89 regions into 7 federal districts headed by a Kremlin representative |
| 8th July Putin makes his first state of the nation address and calls for increased power to the central government to overcome a bleak diagnosis of the country's ills |
| 19th July The Duma passes legislation giving Putin the right to fire provincial governors and takes away the governor's automatic immunity and membership in the Federation Council |
| 2004 | Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich | |
| 13th Sep Creates the Public Chamber of Russia & launches an initiative to replace the direct election governors & presidents of Federal subjects of Russia proposed by the President & approved by the legslature |
