2014 in Russia

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The following lists events that happened in 2014 in Russia.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • 9 January – Russian authorities investigate six suspicious deaths and at least one car explosion in southern Russia's Stavropol territory, about 300 miles from Sochi, the site of next month's Winter Olympics.
  • 14 January – Russia expels American journalist David Satter from the country in the first such case since 1982.
  • 17 January – Vladimir Putin cautions gay people should not "spread gay propaganda" when visiting the host city of Sochi.
  • 18 January – Seven suspected militants are killed by Russian security forces in a shootout near Makhachkala in Dagestan.
  • 20 January
    • An Islamist group claims responsibility for the bombings and threatens attacks on the
      2014 Winter Olympic Games
      to be held in Sochi.
    • Mike Rogers accuses Edward Snowden of collaborating with Russia.
  • 23 January – Supreme Court of Russia releases Platon Lebedev, a business partner of Russian magnate and former head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after he spent more than 10 years in jail.
  • 29 January – Largest Russian TV providers disconnected leading independent TV Rain channel. The previous days the channel was criticised by Vladimir Putin's press secretary and Russian parliament members.

February

  • 3 February – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow. The suspected shooter, a 15-year-old student at the school, surrenders to authorities. It is one of the first school shootings to occur in Russia.
  • 7 February
  • 9 February – A gunman kills two people at a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin.
  • 12 February
  • 13 February
    • Egypt–Russia relations:
      • During a two-day visit by an Egyptian delegation in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister
        Sergey Shoigu
        added that this could include joint military exercises and training of Egyptian officers in Russian military academies.
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin says he supports Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's bid for the upcoming presidential election in Egypt.
  • 17 February – Iran's ambassador to Russia says that Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's
    Bushehr nuclear power plant
    in exchange for Iranian oil, under an oil-for-goods deal being negotiated that has alarmed the United States.
  • 19 February –
    Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, former members of Pussy Riot
    , are arrested and subsequently released after protesting during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
  • 20 February
  • 23 February
    • Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is blocked by Ukraine's customs in Donetsk from taking a plane to Russia.
    • The Winter Olympics in Sochi officially concludes.
  • 24 February – Police arrested over 400 people in Manege Square hours after picking up some 200 people outside the court where the Bolotnaya square case defendants were being tried.
  • 25 February – Russia's leading opposition activists Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin are jailed for 7–10 days for disobeying a police officer while protesting against the Bolotnaya square case. The previous day, in Moscow police detained over 400 people, including Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina.
  • 26 February – The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, orders snap military exercises near the Ukraine border.
  • 27 February
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • The Parliament of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea announces a referendum to determine the region's future and ousts the regional government.
      • Ousted President Viktor Yanukovich, whose whereabouts remained unknown before he turned up in Russia, issues a statement saying that he is still the legitimate president and "ready to fight to the end" to fulfill his deal with the opposition.
      • Around 50 armed men bearing Russian national symbols seize the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea following clashes between the ethnic Tatar and Russian protesters. The interim authorities of Ukraine put security forces on alert.
      • The Autonomous Republic of Crimea has announced that it plans to hold a referendum for independence the same day as the elections in Ukraine.
  • 28 February
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Members of the Russian Parliament propose new laws that would make it easier for Russia to incorporate parts of Ukraine.
      • Russia finally confirms that it has moved troops in Ukraine's Crimea region to protect its own interests.
      • Acting General Prosecutor General Oleh Makhnitskyi formally calls on Russia to extradite ousted President Viktor Yanukovych along with 10 other figures; the list includes former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka, former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Yanukovich aide Andriy Klyuyev, and former Justice Minister Olena Lukash.
      • Interim President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov says the Russian military is "directly involved" in the crisis in Crimea, while Interior Minister Arsen Avakov describes the events as "a military invasion and occupation".
      • News agency Interfax-Ukraine reports that armed pro-Russian men have taken over control of two airports, among which Simferopol International Airport, and raised the Russian Navy flag.
    • Russian businessman and oppositionist Gleb Fetisov, a co-chair of the
      Alliance of Greens and Social Democrats
      , detained in Moscow.
    • The leader of the
      People's Alliance opposition party Alexei Navalny
      placed under house arrest.

March

  • 1 March
  • 2 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Ukraine's Navy commander-in-chief, Denis Berezovsky who was appointed only 1 March, defects to the Russia-backed Crimea government.
      • Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov says Ukraine's airspace has been closed to any non-civilian aircraft.
    • In Russia, police detained several hundred anti-war protesters in Moscow.
  • 3 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • The commander of the Ukrainian frigate
        Hetman Sahaydachniy
         reportedly confirms that the ship never defected to Russia as reported in Russian media.
      • Ireland's deputy leader Eamon Gilmore responds by summoning his Russian ambassador for talks.
      • The Lithuanian and Polish presidents call for NATO treaty Article 4 consultations on the basis that Russia is executing military maneuvers in Kaliningrad, close to the borders with Lithuania and Poland.
      • Reuters reports that armed men have seized a ferry checkpoint between Crimea and Russia.
  • 4 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a press conference, saying that “force isn't needed right now” after deploying roughly 16,000 troops to Crimea.
      • Swedish foreign secretary Carl Bildt compares the ousted Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych to Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling after Yanukovych asked Russia to intervene to restore "law and order" in the country.
      • Russia's UN ambassador says to the UN Security Council that Ukraine's fugitive former President Viktor Yanukovych requested Russian soldiers in the strategic Crimea region "to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order," contradicting the president's own comments last week.
      • Vladimir Putin orders troops near the Ukraine border to return to their bases with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the military exercises a "success".
  • 5 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • UN Envoy Robert Serry is ordered to leave Crimea at gunpoint after being threatened by 10–15 armed men.
      • Saying she cannot be part of a network that "whitewashes the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin", Washington-based anchor Liz Wahl resigns on-air from the Russian government-backed news channel RT.
  • 6 March – A special referendum date is moved again. Now it becomes 16 March 2014 instead of the previously announced 30 March. Voters will be asked whether they wish to stay part of Ukraine or join the Russian Federation.
  • 7 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Armed men – thought to be Russian – attempt to seize a Ukrainian military base in Sevastopol, withdrawing soon afterwards.
      • Turkey scrambles fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along its Black Sea coast.
  • 10 March – A pro-Russian military force of just about a dozen men take control of the Ukrainian naval base near the town of Bakhchysarai.
  • 12 March – Russia says planned U.S. financial aid to Ukraine is illegal.
  • 13 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Leaders in the Ukrainian Kherson Oblast threaten to shut off all power and water to Crimea if the referendum goes forward.
      • Russia masses its military near the Ukrainian border again as new military operations are announced.
  • 14 March – United States Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov meet in London, United Kingdom, to discuss the current Crimean crisis.
  • 15 March – The March of Peace took place in Russia a day before the
    Crimean referendum
    . 30,000 people participated in anti-war protests in Moscow.
  • 16 March –
    Voters in Crimea vote overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia
    . Ukraine, the European Union, and the United States condemn the referendum, which did not give voters the option of the status quo.
  • 17 March
    • President of the United States Barack Obama announces that the United States will
      sanction Russian officials
      that contributed to the current Crimean crisis.
    • The Republic of Crimea is declared.
  • 18 March
    • A Ukrainian military serviceman is
      killed in an attack on a base
      in Crimea's main city, Simferopol.
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Japan announces it will fall in line with American sanctions against Russia for its role in promoting the secession of Crimea from Ukraine.
      • The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.
      • Transnistria formally requests to join the Russian Federation.
  • 19 March – Russian forces overrun the Ukrainian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol and another naval base.
  • 20 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, announces the possibility of further sanctions from the European Union against Russia for the invasion and annexation of Crimea.
      • The President of the United States, Barack Obama, announces further sanctions against Russia in response to the annexation of Crimea.
  • 21 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • The Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Federal Assembly, approves the annexation of Crimea.
      • The President of Russia Vladimir Putin signs the legislation completing the annexation of Crimea.
    • Ukraine signs an
      association accord with the European Union
      in defiance of Russia.
  • 22 March – Russian troops capture
    Crimean Peninsula
    .
  • 24 March
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • The interim President of Ukraine Olexander Turchynov orders Ukrainian forces to withdraw from Crimea.
      • UK Prime Minister
        40th G8 summit
        scheduled to be held in Sochi will not take place because of Russia's actions in Crimea.
  • 27 March – The
    General Assembly of the United Nations
    passes a motion condemning the Russian annexation of Crimea.
  • 28 March – Russia announces that it will raise the price Ukraine pays for Russian natural gas by 80%.
  • 29 March – Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, says that Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine.

April

  • 1 April – NATO suspends "all practical civilian and military cooperation" with Russia as a result of the annexation of Crimea, and no sign that Russian troops have withdrawn from the Ukrainian border.
  • 4 April – McDonald's suspends work at all restaurant locations in Crimea.
  • 6 April
  • 7 April – Pro-Russian activists occupying a government building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have proclaimed the creation of a sovereign Donetsk People's Republic independent of the capital Kiev.
  • 8 April
    • Pro-Russian protests in Ukraine:
      • Ukrainian police detain about 70 people in Kharkiv in an "anti-terrorist" operation that clear government buildings seized by pro-Russian protesters in Kharkiv.
      • United States Secretary of State John Kerry accuses Russian agents and special forces on Tuesday of stirring separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine.
      • Russia warns Ukraine that any use of force in eastern Ukraine could lead to a civil war.
  • 9 April – Over 50 people leave a Ukrainian security service building in Luhansk that is currently occupied by pro-Russian separatists. Acting Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov states that the unrest will be resolved by force or talks in 48 hours.
  • 10 April
  • 11 April
    • 2014 Crimean crisis
      :
      • Montenegro, Norway, Iceland and Albania join the list of countries supporting sanctions including asset freezings and travel bans directed at Russian individuals.
      • Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen visits Bulgaria and meets with President Rosen Plevneliev, during his visit he calls on Russia to withdraw their troops from the Ukrainian border.
  • 12 April –
    Slaviansk
    in the eastern Ukraine.
  • 13 April – Ukraine launches a "
    full-scale anti-terrorist operation
    " against pro-Russian protesters who have captured police and security forces buildings in the town of Slaviansk.
  • 14 April – Pro-Russian gunmen storm another police station, in the town of Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast.
  • 15 April
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Shots are fired at Kramatorsk air base as Ukrainian Ground Forces are dispatched to take on separatists. Unconfirmed reports state that 4 pro-Russian militants have been killed and 2 people have been injured. Some reports claim up to 10 deaths.
      • Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has announced the start of an "anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russian separatists.
  • 16 April – Six armored personnel carriers belonging to the Ukrainian military are captured by pro-Russian protesters amid rising tensions between the protestors and the military.
  • 17 April
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Russia and Ukraine together with the United States and the European Union sit down for emergency talks in Geneva. All four agree that "illegal military formations in Ukraine" must be dissolved, and that everyone occupying buildings must be disarmed and leave them. There would be an amnesty for all anti-government protesters under the agreement.
      • A skirmish on the Ukrainian military base in Mariupol by pro-Russian militants results in the deaths of 3 of the militants, the wounding of another 13, and the capture of 63 others.
      • The Ukrainian Army unit whose armoured vehicles were seized by pro-Russian forces is disbanded and its members charged with crimes.
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin admits having sent Russian forces to Crimea last month to protect its military equipment there.
  • 18 April – Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk say they will not leave the government buildings, defying the Kiev authorities and threatening a new international deal on Ukraine.
  • 19 April
    • Ukraine suspends operations against pro-Russian militants in the east of the country over Easter.
    • A suspected meteorite explosion has been recorded over Murmansk.
  • 20 April – Three people are killed in an attack on check post in Eastern Ukraine manned by pro-Russian supporters.
  • 21 April
  • 22 April
  • 23 April
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Ukrainian security officials discover that the Assumption Monastery Lavra of the Moscow Patriarchate in Sviatohirsk served as a military base for pro-Russian insurgents who have besieged the region.
      • Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema announces that pro-Russian militants will be targeted in four eastern cities, Kramatorsk, Slaviansk, Donetsk and Luhansk, as they refuse to vacate government buildings they previously seized, defying the international deal made in Geneva.
  • 24 April
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • The Ukrainian government says it's regained control of the city hall in the eastern port of Mariupol from pro-Russian separatists. Administrative buildings have been taken over in at least a dozen towns in Eastern Ukraine.
      • Washington accuses Moscow of fomenting unrest in the east, with Obama threatening the possibility of applying additional sanctions on Russia.
      • Russian Foreign Minister
        Sergei Lavrov
        accuses the United States of being behind the political upheaval in Ukraine, and said Russia would respond if its interests came under attack.
      • A battle between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops in Sloviansk, Ukraine, leaves 5 pro-Russian militants dead.
  • 25 April – A Ukrainian military helicopter is destroyed after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade at a base near the town of Kramatorsk in Eastern Ukraine.
  • 27 April
    • Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine free a Swedish observer, but not the other seven European monitors they have been holding for three days.
    • Eight people are killed by a fire in a medical facility in Russia's eastern Altai region.
  • 28 April
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Pro-Russian gunmen seize the town of
        Kostyantynivka
        , the latest in a string of towns in the eastern Ukraine.
      • The United States imposes a third round of sanctions against Russia, reportedly in response to Russia encouraging rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
      • Two thousand people holding a peaceful demonstration in Donetsk for a united Ukraine are attacked with bats and teargas by pro-Russians.
  • 29 April – Pro-Russian militants in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk seize the regional administration's headquarters, resulting in a tense standoff with the militants and security personnel.

May

  • 1 May
    • Pro-Russian militants seize the regional prosecutor's office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
    • The People's Republic of China and Russia announce plans to hold joint naval exercises in the East China Sea in late May amid regional tensions about islands and airspace.
  • 2 May – The Armed Forces of Ukraine launch a military operation against separatists in the city of Sloviansk with claims of many deaths and two Ukrainian Army helicopters downed. In the port city of Odesa, violent clashes kill at least 42 people, as pro-Ukrainians set the pro-Russian headquarters on fire.
  • 4 May – Pro-Russian activists attack the police headquarters in Odesa, forcing the release of several people held over deadly violence two days before.
  • 5 May – Russian media reveals that President Vladimir Putin secretly signed a decree (No. 279) honoring more than 300 journalists for their "objective coverage" of Crimea's seizure from Ukraine.
  • 6 May
    • Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov rules out any fresh talks in Geneva to defuse the crisis unless pro-Russian groups are also involved.
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin signs into law a bill that bans profanity at arts, cultural and entertainment events.
  • 7 May
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Pro-Russian militants recapture the city hall of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol hours after the Ukrainian government forces
        took control
        of the building from the militants.
      • Five pro-Russian militants are killed and fifteen more are captured during clashes with the Ukrainian military in the outskirts of the southern city of Mariupol.
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin says that
        federalization referendum
        . Putin also added qualifying conditions.
  • 8 May – Pro-Russian rebels push forward with plans for a referendum on 11 May ignoring Putin's statement to delay the vote.
  • 9 May
    • 2014 Crimea crisis
      :
      • Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Crimea for the first time since the annexation, arriving in Sevastopol for Victory Day celebrations.
      • Russia test fired several nuclear delivery systems on the Victory day celebrations and also sent a naval flotilla led by the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov through the English Channel.
  • 12 May – Pro-Russian insurgents in Donetsk and Luhansk declare the cities independent states whilst on choosing to join Russia after controversial hastily arranged referendums.
  • 13 May – Another 13 individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin's first deputy chief of staff, Vyacheslav Volodin and the self-declared mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, and two legal entities are added to the EU sanctions list for "undermining or threatening" Ukraine's sovereignty.
  • 14 May – Talks to end the crisis in Ukraine begin, without representatives of pro-Russian separatist groups.
  • 16 May
    • Pro-Russian rebels quickly withdraw from Mariupol as dozens of unarmed pro-Ukraine steelworkers with some employed by System Capital Management joined by the police start to patrol the city.
    • A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying a communications satellite veers off its intended path and burns up in the atmosphere.
  • 19 May
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • Russia's President Vladimir Putin says he ordered troops in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions to withdraw and return to their permanent bases.
      • NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, says the Western allies had not seen any sign of a withdrawal of Russian forces.
  • 20 May – The President of Russia Vladimir Putin arrives in the People's Republic of China for a state visit.
  • 21 May
  • 22 May
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • At least 11 Ukrainian Army soldiers are killed and 30 injured when pro-Russian separatists attack a military checkpoint.
      • Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine declares martial law and asks Russia to send peacekeeping troops to protect civilians.
      • The unrecognised Federal State of New Russia confederation is declared and agreements were signed between leaders of two self-proclaimed republics.
    • Negotiations between Iran and Russia regarding the building of two additional nuclear reactors at Iran's Bushehr power plant take place.
  • 23 May
    • Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that he will respect the outcome of Ukraine's presidential election.
    • Russia and China veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have asked the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Syria.
    • Research shows that the Chelyabinsk meteor was the remnants of an asteroid that collided with another asteroid 290 million years before entering the Earth's atmosphere over Russia in February of last year.
  • 26 May
  • 27 May
    • 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine:
      • At least thirty pro-Russian separatists have died in fighting over control of Donetsk International Airport; the Ukrainian government claims to have total control of the airport following the clashes with the separatists.
      • The newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko vows to continue Kiev's anti-terrorist operation against pro-Russian militants in the east.

June

July

August

September

  • 1 September
  • 3 September
  • 4 September – The two-day NATO summit in Newport, Wales, begins. Leaders agree to apply further sanctions on Russia. NATO sources claim that there are "several thousand" Russian troops inside Ukraine.
  • 5 September – The government of Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels agree to a cease-fire, fighting continues after the announcement.
  • 6 September – In an official statement,
    Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate
    , says that Russian President Vladimir Putin has fallen under the spell of Satan and faces eternal damnation to hell unless he repents.
  • 8 September – Pro-Russian rebels release 1,200 prisoners under ceasefire deal.
  • 12 September – The Government of Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists exchange dozens of prisoners agreed to as part of a ceasefire a week ago. Both sides still hold thousands of prisoners.
  • 14 September – Heavy fighting resumes between Ukraine forces and rebels near Donetsk International Airport with at least six people dead.
  • 15 September – Heavy shelling on the city of Donetsk leaves 6 people dead and 15 wounded.
  • 16 September – Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov is placed under house arrest for alleged money laundering.
  • 17 September – A rocket attack by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine kills 10 civilians and injures 12 others in the village of Nyzhnya Krynka near Donetsk.
  • 21 September
    • More than 26,000 people in Moscow participate in the largest demonstration so far against Russian president Vladimir Putin and the war in Donbass.
    • Rallies in support of Ukraine and against the war in Donbass take place in Boston, New York, Sydney, Dublin, Madrid, London, Paris, Oslo, Tallinn, Limassol, Istanbul, Antalya, Cologne, Milan, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Prague, Berlin, Moscow, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Berlaul and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
  • 23 September – President of Russia Vladimir Putin warns in a letter to his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko that Moscow will restrict Ukraine's access to Russian markets if Kiev implements any part of a trade agreement with the European Union.
  • 24 September – A law is signed that limits foreign ownership stakes in any Russian media assets to 20% by early 2017.[2]
    • Japan imposes additional sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine conflict and a visit by an aide of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to a contested island off the coast off northern Japan.
  • 29 September – Renewed clashes around the Donetsk International Airport between the pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops kill at least 12 people in the worst flareup of violence since the ceasefire accord earlier in September.
  • 30 September – The Ukrainian military say they have repelled a renewed assault by the pro-Russian forces on the Donetsk International Airport. The airport has been under sustained assaults for over 2 weeks despite an official ceasefire.

October

November

December

Deaths

Further information:
Deaths in 2014

January

Main article: Deaths in January 2014

February

Main article: Deaths in February 2014

April

Main article: Deaths in April 2014

August

Main article: Deaths in August 2014

September

Main article: Deaths in September 2014

See also

References

  1. ^ "Malaysian Airlines shootdown probe finds 'strong indications' Putin approved missiles". 8 February 2023.
  2. ^ Ibragimova, Galiya (24 September 2014). "New law further restricts foreign media investment". rbth.com. Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. ^ Ушел из жизни игрок хабаровского «СКА» и «Океана» из Находки Сергей Козлов Archived 19 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
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