The following lists events that happened during 1981 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Incumbents
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: Leonid Brezhnev Premier of the Soviet Union: Nikolai Tikhonov Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union – Lev Smirnov
Events
1 April – Daylight saving time was implemented for the first time in the USSR 28 April – The USSR national team won the World Ice Hockey Championship in Sweden
Births
31 January – Yulia Nachalova, singer (d. 2019) 18 February – Andrei Kirilenko, basketball player 19 March – Maksim Arap, footballer 26 March – Danis Zaripov, ice hockey player 30 March – Sergei Mozyakin, ice hockey player 8 April – Nikolay Kruglov Jr., biathlete 12 April – Yuriy Borzakovskiy, middle-distance runner 17 April – Konstantin Koltsov, ice hockey player (d. 2024) 30 April – Peter Nalitch, singer 29 May – Andrey Arshavin, footballer 2 June – Nikolay Davydenko, tennis player 7 June – Anna Kournikova, tennis player 26 June – Natalya Antyukh, athlete 6 July – Roman Shirokov, footballer 8 July – Anastasia Myskina, tennis player 30 August – Daniil Vorobyov, film and theatre actor 2 September – Aleksey Chadov, film actor 3 September – Evgeniya Brik, actress (d. 2022) 15 October – Marina Toybina, fashion and costume designer 31 October – Irina Denezhkina, writer 2 November – Tatiana Totmianina, pair skater 5 November – Ksenia Sobchak, political figure 30 November – Olga Krasko, actress 15 December – Roman Pavlyuchenko, footballer 16 December – Olga Medynich, theater and film actress 23 December – Anastasiya Makeyeva, actress and model 24 December – Dima Bilan, singer, songwriter
Deaths February 7 — Emil Spiridonov, navy officer (b. 1925) March 3 — Oleg Dal, actor (b. 1941) March 7 — Kirill Kondrashin, conductor (b. 1914) March 21 — Mark Donskoy (b. 1901) March 28 — Yuri Trifonov, leading representative of the so-called Soviet "Urban Prose" (b. 1925) April 1 — Agniya Barto, poet and writer (b. 1901) April 16 — Leonid Melnykov, politician and diplomat (b. 1906) April 28 Lev Loktev, artillery designer (b. 1908) Grigory Shpigel, actor (b. 1914) August 27 — Valeri Kharlamov, ice hockey player (b. 1948) November 18 — Alexey Okladnikov, archaeologist and ethnographer (b. 1908) November 30 — Tankho Israilov, ballet dancer (b. 1917) December 4 — Valentin Fyodorov, football player and coach (b. 1911) December 11 — Zoya Fyodorova, actress (b. 1907) December 15 — Mikhail Zharov, actor and director (b. 1899)
See also List of Soviet films of 1981
1981 in fine arts of the Soviet Union
References