# 1940 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1940 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

## Incumbents

* General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union — Joseph Stalin
* Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union — Mikhail Kalinin
* Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union — Vyacheslav Molotov

## Births
### January

* January 11 — Andres Tarand, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia
* January 17 — Mircea Snegur, 1st President of Moldova (d. 2023)
* January 18 — Alexander Almetov, Soviet and Russian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
* January 27 — Petru Lucinschi, 2nd President of Moldova
* January 30 — Leonid Polezhayev, 1st Governor of Omsk Oblast

### February

* February 4 — Yuri Veksler, cinematographer (d. 1991)
* February 16 — Nikolai Kondratenko, 5th Governor of Krasnodar Krai (d. 2013)
* February 17 — Alexei Fridman, Soviet and Russian physicist (d. 2010)
* February 19 — Saparmurat Niyazov, 1st President of Turkmenistan (d. 2006)

### March

* March 4 — Vladimir Morozov, sprint canoeist (d. 2023)
* March 7 — Viktor Savinykh, cosmonaut
* March 8 — Viktor Kalashnikov, 1st Governor of Voronezh Oblast (d. 2023)
* March 9 — Larisa Golubkina, actress
* March 16 — Vagif Mustafazadeh, jazz pianist and composer (d. 1979)
* March 20 — Igor Ryomin, football player (d. 1991)

### May

* May 4 — Viktor Getmanov, football player (d. 1995)
* May 9 — Inna Gulaya, theatre and cinema actress (d. 1990)
* May 15 — Svetlana Svetlichnaya, Soviet and Russian actress
* May 24 — Joseph Brodsky, poet and essayist (d. 1996)
* May 28 — Valentin Gerasimov, 1st Governor of Kurgan Oblast

### June

* June 8 — Vladimir Semyonov, 2nd Head of Karachay-Cherkessia
* June 13 — Valery Sudarenkov, 3rd Governor of Kaluga Oblast
* June 20 — Lyudmila Marchenko, Soviet and Russian film actress (d. 1997)
* June 26 — Vyacheslav Ionov, Soviet and Russian sprint canoeist (d. 2012)
* June 28 — Alina Vedmid, politician and agronomist (d. 2008)
* June 29 — Vyacheslav Artyomov, composer

### July

* July 6 — Nursultan Nazarbayev, 1st President of Kazakhstan
* July 14 — Utkir Sultonov, 2nd Prime Minister of Uzbekistan (d. 2015)
* July 19 — Anzor Kavazashvili, football goalkeeper

### August

* August 4 — Jamshed Karimov, 5th Prime Minister of Tajikistan
* August 6 — Mukhu Aliyev, 2nd Head of the Republic of Dagestan
* August 15 — Aleksandr Surikov, 3rd Governor of Altai Krai
* August 20 — Musa Geshaev, Chechen poet (d. 2014)
* August 31 — Gennady Vasilyev, Soviet and Russian film director (d. 1999)

### September

* September 14 — Gennady Kuptsov, 1st Governor of Lipetsk Oblast

### October

* October 5
** Rein Aun, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1995)
** Viktor Pavlov, actor (d. 2006)
* October 9 — Valery Nosik, actor (d. 1995)
* October 18 — Aleksandr Starovoitov, Soviet and Russian security services and academic officer (d. 2021)
* October 20
** Hasan Hasanov, 1st Prime Minister of Azerbaijan
** Viktor Barannikov, 10th Minister of Interior Affairs of the Soviet Union (d. 1995)

### December

* December 22 — Doku Zavgayev, Soviet and Russian diplomat and politician
* December 24 — Saylau Serikov, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kazakh SSR (d. 1991)

## Deaths

* January 27 — Isaac Babel, writer, journalist playwright and literary translator (b. 1894)
* February 2
** Vsevolod Meyerhold, theatre director, actor and theatrical producer (b. 1874)
** Robert Eikhe, politician (b. 1890)
** Mikhail Koltsov, journalist, revolutionary and NKVD agent (b. 1898)
* February 4
** Nikolai Yezhov, Head of NKVD (b. 1895)
** Mikhail Frinovsky, secret police official (b. 1898)
* March 10 — Mikhail Bulgakov, writer, medical doctor and playwright (b. 1891)
* August 21 — Leon Trotsky, politician and political theorist (b. 1879)
* December 2 — Nikolai Koltsov, biologist (b. 1872)