1918
The decree of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic No 1 formed the headquarters of the Russian armed forces and appointed I.I. VATSETIS Commander-in-chief. The RMCR elected L.D. TROTSKY as its Chairman.
1936 The honorary title “People's Artist of the USSR” was instituted. The first titles were conferred on K.S. STANISLAVSKY, V.I. NEMIROVICH-DANCHENKO, V.I. KACHALOV and I.M. MOSKVIN. The title of People's Artist of the USSR was conferred for the last time on A.B.
PUGACHEVA and O.I. YANKOVSKY in 1991.
1974 The construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway line (BAM) began to connect East Siberia with the Far East.
1976 The Soviet airforce pilot Viktor Belenko defected to Japan by the “Mig-25P” fighter plane where he asked for political asylum in the United States.
1991 The State Council of the USSR chaired by M.S. GORBACHEV recognized independence of the three Baltic republics – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia..
1991 Leningrad was renamed St.Petersburg.
1991 Chechnya proclaimed independence.
1996 National mourning was declared all over Russia on September 6 and 7 to remember the victims of the terrorist act in Beslan (North Ossetia).
Births
1666 IVAN V ALEKSEYEVICH
(08.02.1696)
Formal Russian czar in 1682-96.The younger son of Czar ALEKSEY MIKHAILOVICH by his first marriage to Maria MILOSLAVSKAYA was very frail, both physically and mentally. After the death of the elder brother of the czar FYODOR III, the son of Alexksey Mikhailovich by his second wife Natalia NARYSHKINA, PYOTR, was proclaimed czar, but his step-sister SOPHIA, in an attempt to retain power in the hands of the Miloslavsky family, provoked a mutiny of the regular army soldiers. The Boyar
Duma proclaimed both brothers, Ivan and Pyotr, czars with Sophia as the regent. She was overthrown in 1689, but Ivan retained his official title until his death.
1828 Alexander BUTLEROV
(17.08.1886)Chemist.
1874 Ivan NAZHIVIN
(05.04.1940)Writer. After the 1917 revolution he emigrated, but in 1934 appealed to Stalin for permission to return to the USSR, but his requiest was turned down.
1880 Alexander SHOTMAN
(30.10.1937)
Bolshevik, Lenin's close friend.
1928 Evgeny SVETLANOV
(03.05.2002)
Orchestra conductor, People's Artist of the USSR, Hero of Socialsit Labour.
1934 Oleg KALUGIN
Soviet intelligence agent, who defected to the United States and betrayed his former colleagues.
1937 Gennady SHPALIKOV
(01.11.1974)
Poet, film script writer.
1954 Alexander TARKHANOV
Football player (Central Army Club, the USSR National team), now a coach.
Deaths
1782 Alexandra LEVSHINA
(12.01.1757)
One of the first graduates of the Institute of Nobility Girls (Smolny Institute). A favourite of CATHERINE THE GREAT, her maid of honour. She married Prince Pyotr CHERKASSKY, but soon died.
1968 Nikolai AKIMOV
(16.04.1901)
Theatre director and artist. The artistic director of the Leningrad Comedy Theatre from 1955. He was famous for his original interpretations of classical plays, for example Shakespeare's “Hamlet”.
