# 2003 in Russia

Events from the year 2003 in Russia.

## Incumbents

* President — Vladimir Putin
* Prime Minister — Mikhail Kasyanov

## Events
### March

* March 23 — A referendum in the break-away republic of Chechnya approves a new constitution.

### April

* April 17 — Assassination of Sergei Yushenkov, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party and critic of President Vladimir Putin.
* April 29 — Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair holds a one-day summit with President Putin. Putin mocks Britain's and America's failure to locate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

### May

* May 12 — 2003 Znamenskoye suicide bombing: Three suicide bombers drive a truck bomb into the FSB directorate complex in Znamenskoye, Chechen Republic killing at least 59 people.

### July

* July 2 — 36-year-old billionaire oil baron Roman Abramovich buys the English football club Chelsea for £140million.

### October

* October 25 — Arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chairman of the YUKOS oil company, on charges of fraud.
* October 27–30 — The stock market falls by 16.5% as the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky is seen as politically motivated leading to a loss in business confidence.

### December

* December 4 — A Chechen suicide bomber killed 41 aboard a train near Yessentuki Station
* December 7 — President Putin's United Russia party wins the largest number of seats in the legislative election.
* December 31 — the end of the birth of the Russian Millennium generation

## Births

* January 23 — Apollinariia Panfilova, pair skater
* March 7 — Polina Kostiukovich, Russian pair skater
* April 30 — Misha Smirnov, singer, producer-songwriter
* July 4 — Polina Bogusevich, singer

## Deaths
### January

* January 8 — Kir Nesis, marine biologist and malacologist (b. 1934)
* January 11 — Yuri Tishkov, professional footballer, sports agent and commentator (b. 1971)
* January 26 — Valeriy Brumel, high jumper (men's Olympic high jump medals: 1960 silver, 1964 gold) (b. 1942)
* January 29
** Natalia Dudinskaya, prima ballerina (b. 1912)
** Yevgeniya Sidorova, alpine skier (b. 1930)

### February

* February 5 — Antonina Shuranova, stage, television and film actress (b. 1936)
* February 14 — Grigory Mkrtychan, ice hockey goalkeeper (b. 1925)
* February 19 — Igor Gorbachyov, actor, theater director and pedagogue (b. 1927)
* February 23 — Pavel Lebeshev, cinematographer (b. 1940)

### March

* March 5 — Dzhabrail Yamadayev, Chechen rebel field commander (b. 1970)
* March 8 — Eduard Izotov, film actor (b. 1936)
* March 10 — Marina Ladynina, stage and film actress (b. 1908)
* March 15 — Yevgeny Belyayev, cross-country skier (b. 1954)
* March 24 — Yevgeny Klevtsov, cyclist (b. 1929)
* March 28 — Aleksey Kuznetsov, cross-country skier (b. 1929)
* March 29
** Kerim Kerimov, engineer and general (b. 1917)
** Vladimir Pikalov, general (b. 1924)
* March 30 — Valentin Pavlov, 11th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
* March 31 — Semyon Lipkin, writer, poet and literary translator (b. 1911)

### April

* April 6 — Aleksandr Fatyushin, film and theater actor (b. 1951)
* April 17
** Sergei Yushenkov, politician (b. 1950)
** Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, ischiopagus tripus conjoined twins (b. 1950)
* April 18 — Emil Loteanu, film director (b. 1936)
* April 24 — Yuri Kholopov, musicologist and educator (b. 1932)
* April 25 — Viktor Bushuev, weightlifter (b. 1933)
* April 29 — Vasily Tolstikov, 8th First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1917)

### May

* May 9 — Aleksey Medvedev, heavyweight weightlifter (b. 1927)
* May 12 — Anatoly Dobryakov, 1st Governor of Pskov Oblast (b. 1939)
* May 14 — Gennadiy Nikonov, firearm engineer (b. 1950)
* May 21 — Yaroslav Golovanov, journalist, writer and science communicator (b. 1932)
* May 28 — Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
* May 30 — Zagir Ismagilov, Bashkir composer and pedagogue (b. 1917)

### June

* June 1 — Yevgeny Matveyev, actor and film director (b. 1922)
* June 3 — Petre Mshvenieradze, water polo player (b. 1929)
* June 9 — German Sveshnikov, fencer (b. 1937)
* June 14 — Nikolai Figurovsky, film director, screenwriter, writer and professor at VGIK (b. 1923)
* June 21 — Sergei Vronsky, cinematographer (b. 1923)
* June 23 — Alexander Sidelnikov, ice hockey player (b. 1950)

### July

* July 3 — Yuri Shchekochikhin, investigative journalist, writer and liberal lawmaker (b. 1950)
* July 5 — Roman Lyashenko, ice hockey player (b. 1979)
* July 8 — Dimitri Sukhorukov, army general (b. 1922)
* July 11 — Stepan Chervonenko, diplomat (b. 1915)
* July 16 — Dmitri Vasilyev, actor, monarchist, antisemite and ultranationalist (b. 1945)
* July 20 — Vladimir Krantz, painter (b. 1913)
* July 24 — Iya Arepina, actress (b. 1930)

### August

* August 2 — Vladimir Golovanov, weightlifter (b. 1938)
* August 7 — Grigoriy Bondarevsky, professor, writer and historian (b. 1920)
* August 14
** Viktor Ivanov, rower (b. 1930)
** Lev Kerbel, sculptor (b. 1917)
* August 20 — Igor Farkhutdinov, 3rd Governor of Sakhalin Oblast (b. 1950)
* August 21 — Vasily Borisov, rifle shooter (b. 1922)
* August 28 — Yury Saulsky, composer and author (b. 1928)

### September

* September 5 — Kir Bulychev, science fiction writer, critic and historian (b. 1934)
* September 9 — Aleksandr Moiseyev, basketball player (b. 1927)
* September 18 — Sergey Smirnov, track and field athlete (b. 1960)
* September 23 — Yuri Senkevich, physician and scientist (b. 1937)

### October

* October 7 — Viktor Leonov, navy officer (b. 1916)
* October 10 — Igor Borisov, rower (b. 1924)
* October 26
** Elem Klimov, filmmaker (b. 1933)
** Leonid Filatov, actor, director, poet and pamphleteer (b. 1946)

### November

* November 3
** Rasul Gamzatov, Avar poet (b. 1923)
** Yuri Falin, football player (b. 1937)
* November 11 — Andrei Bolibrukh, mathematician (b. 1950)
* November 22 — Yuri Khukhrov, realist painter, graphic artist and art teacher (b. 1932)

### December

* December 21 — Oleg Troyanovsky, diplomat (b. 1919)
* December 23 — Valentin Gavrilov, high jumper (b. 1946)
* December 24 — Eugene Maltsev, painter (b. 1929)
* December 26 — Ivan Petrov, bass opera singer (b. 1920)
* December 30 — Vladimir Bogomolov, writer (b. 1924)
* December 31 — German Apukhtin, footballer (b. 1936)