1240 - Mongols invade Russia;Tatars established empire in southern Russia.
1556 - Ivan the Terrible conquered the Tatars of the lower Volga.
1581 - Cossacks conquered Siberia.
1613 - Czar Michael Romanov began the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia until 1917.
1689-1725 - Peter the Great introduced reforms, created a conscript army and professional navy
1772 - 1814 - Russian empire gained Crimea, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Georgia.
1812 - Russia defeated Napoleon's invasion.
1834-59 - Caucasian war.
1853-57 - Crimean war.
1861 - Czar Alexander II ended serfdom; promoted industrialization; began "strange friendship" with Cassius Marcellus Clay and Lincoln's government during the American Civil War.
1914 - Russia mobilized July 29 and joined Allied countries in World War I against Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1917 - Bolshevik revolution overthrew provisional government of Alexander Kerensky
1918 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended war with Germany to an end, required cession of large tracts of territory; Czar Nicholas killed; Baltic states, Finland and Poland cede as the Russian Empire collapses.
1918-22 - Civil war between the Red Army and White Russians, or anti-communists, who were aided by Britain, France and the US.
1922 - Russia became the largest part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a communist federation that lasted until 1991.
1991 - On December 21, 11 of the 15 Soviet Socialist Republics signed the charter establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with headquarters in Minsk, and abolished the old USSR. The three Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) refused to join as did Georgia. The 11 original member states were Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. In December 1993, Georgia also joined the commonwealth. Chechnya declared unilateral independence.
1992 - Russia took the seat of the former Soviet Union in the United Nations Security Council.
1993 - In September, President Boris Yeltsin suspended parliament and called for new elections. MPs barricade themselves inside the parliament building. In October, Yeltsin ordered the army to attack the parliament building that was taken following a bloody battle. In December, Russians approved a new constitution that gave the president sweeping powers. Communists made large gains in elections to the new legislature, the State Duma, that replaced the former parliament, the Supreme Soviet.
1994 - Duma pardoned participants in anti-Gorbachev coup of August 1991 and parliamentary rebellion of 1993. Russian troops invaded Chechnya.
1995 - Communist Party won in parliamentary elections, taking more than one-third of seats in Duma.
1996 - Yeltsin was re-elected for another term, signed a peace treaty with Chechnya and agreement on cooperation with NATO. Russia admitted to the G-7 group of industrialized countries.
1997 - Border treaty signed with Lithuania.
1998 - Ruble collapsed and government gave notice of intention to default on foreign debts.
1999 - In August, militants from Chechnya invaded the neighbouring Russian constituent republic of Dagestan. Putin sends Russian troops back into Chechnya in the wake of a series of bomb explosions in Russia which are blamed on Chechen extremists. His tough line increases his popularity among Russians. Yeltsin resigned and was replaced by Putin as acting president.
2000 - In March, Putin was elected president. In August, the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea with the loss of all its crew of 118 sailors. In December, Soviet anthem reintroduced to replace that brought in by Yeltsin. New words are written for it by poet Sergey Mikhalkov who penned the Soviet version as well.
2001 Russian Federation - bg - The Commonwealth of Independent States includes 21 republics, 6 krays (federal territories), 2 federal cities, 49 regions (oblasts), 1 autonomous region and 10 autonomous areas.
2001 - Friendship treaty signed with People's Republic of China during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Moscow.
2002 - In May, Russia and the USA announced a new agreement on strategic nuclear weapons reduction to cut nuclear arsenals from over 6,000 missiles each to about 2,000 each in the next 10 years. NATO-Russia Council gave each of the 20 members an equal role in decision-making on policy to counter terrorism and other security threats. In October, Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theatre and held about 800 people hostage. Most of the rebels and 120 hostages were killed when Russian forces stormed the building.
2003 - In March, Chechen referendum voted in favour of a new constitution that made the republic part of the Russian Federation. In September, Kyrgyzstan granted Russia a military base at Kant to house a new Russian rapid reaction force intended to combat terrorism. It was first military base opened by Russia abroad in 13 years of independence. In October, a Russia provoked a border dispute with Kiev after it built a causeway across Kerch Strait between Russian coast and Ukrainian island of Tuzla. The strait separated Black Sea from Azov Sea. Ukraine sent troops to Tuzla. In October, billionnaire Yukos oil boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrested and held in custody over investigations into tax evasion and fraud. Khodorkovsky had supported liberal opposition to President Putin. In December, President Putin gained almost total control over parliament after elections in which Putin-backed United Russia won landslide. President Putin, President Kuchma of Ukraine signed agreement on joint use of Kerch Strait and status of Azov Sea.
2004 - Putin won second term as president by landslide. In May, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed in a bomb blast in Grozny. In June, dozens killed in southern republic of Ingushetia in attacks said to have involved hundreds of gunmen. President Putin blamed Chechen rebels led by Aslan Maskhadov, but Maskhadov's spokesman said operation was led by Ingush commander who fought under Maskhadov in Chechnya and acknowledged participation of Chechen volunteers. Spokesman blamed Russian forces for provoking attacks. In September, more than 330 people, many of them children, killed when siege at Beslan school in North Ossetia ends in bloodbath. President Putin blamed international terrorists with links to Chechen separatists. Maskhadov condemned the seizure, said it was carried out by "madmen" motivated by a desire to seek revenge for Russian actions against their own loved ones in Chechnya.
2005 - In January, at least 20 died in violent incidents in North Caucasus republics of Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria as Russian security forces raid houses in what they describe as operations to capture Chechen separatist fighters. Some observers blame heavy-handed tactics for the deaths. In February, Chechen separatist leader Maskhadov called ceasefire and urged the Russian authorities to agree to peace talks. The official Chechen leadership dismissed his overtures and says he should give himself up. Moscow and Tehran signed agreement by which Russia will supply fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor and Iran will send spent fuel rods back to Russia. In March, Maskhadov killed in operation by Russian forces. In June, Russia withdrew from border treaty signed with Estonia after the Estonian parliament made reference to Soviet occupation before ratifying. In September, Russia and Germany signed major deal to build gas pipeline under Baltic Sea between the two countries. Gazprom gains overwhelming control of Sibneft oil company by buying out businessman Roman Abramovich for 13 billion dollars. In October, dozens were killed during clashes between police and militants in Nalchik, the capital of the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev issued statement saying he was in overall command of rebel forces.
2006 - In January, Russia briefly cut supply of gas to the Ukraine in dispute over prices. Moscow said its reasons were purely economic but Kiev said they were political. In February, at least a dozen Chechen rebel fighters and several members of Russian security forces killed in gun battle in village in Stavropol region, just across border from Chechnya. In March, President Putin visited Beijing and signed range of economic agreements, including deal on future supply of Russian gas to China. In July, the ruble became convertible currency. Russia's most-wanted man, Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, was killed in what the security services described as a special operation. Yukos oil company mounted legal challenge as Russia's state oil firm Rosneft floated on London stock exchange.
