1986 in the Soviet Union

The following lists events that happened during 1986 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

← 1985 1984 1983 1986 in the Soviet Union → 1987 1988 1989
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	History of the Soviet Union List of years in the Soviet Union

Incumbents

• General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev
• Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet – Andrei Gromyko
• Premier of the Soviet Union – Nikolai Ryzhkov
• Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union – Vladimir Terebilov

Events

January

• 25 January – Mikhail Gorbachev proposes a 15-year plan on abolition of nuclear weapons.

February

Mir

• 20 February – The first component of the Mir space station - the core module - is launched.
• 24 February – VI Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR opens in Krasnoyarsk.
• 25 February – The 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is opened, where the concept of glasnost emerges.

March

• 1 March – 1986 Soviet Top League is inaugurated.
• 13 March
  • Soyuz T-15 is launched at the Gagarin's Start.
  • 1986 Black Sea incident: American cruiser USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Caron, claiming the right of innocent passage, enter the Soviet territorial waters near the southern Crimean Peninsula.

April

• 12 April – 1986 World Ice Hockey Championships are inaugurated in Moscow.
• 21 April - Mikhail Gorbachev announces that the Soviet Union is ready to dissolve the Warsaw Pact with the simultaneous dissolution of NATO.
• 26 April – Chernobyl disaster.

May

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus

• 4 May – Rock-Panorama-86 festival opens in Moscow.
• 12 May – The Council of Ministers of the USSR introduces the State Acceptance of Production (gospriyomka).
• 13 May – The 5th congress of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR is opened.
• 20 May – The designing of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus starts.

June

• 3 June – IX Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR opens.
• 28 June – Antonov An-12 of the Soviet Air Forces crashes in Yeysk, killing 10.

July

• 2 July – Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes in Komi ASSR, killing 54.
• 5 July – 1986 Goodwill Games are inaugurated in Moscow.

August

• 8 August – 1986 FIBA World Championship for Women opens in Minsk, Vilnius and Moscow.
• 31 August – Sinking of SS Admiral Nakhimov in the Black Sea, 423 deaths.

September

• 5 September – The Soviet leg of the World Chess Championship 1986 opens in Leningrad.
• 20 September – Two Internal Troops servicemen make an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Tu-134A aircraft in Ufa and flee to Pakistan.

October

• 5 October – Scientist and human rights advocate Yuri Orlov is freed from Siberian exile.
• 20 October – Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashes in Kuybyshev (now Samara), killing 70.

November

• 6 November – Koristovka train collision, 44 are dead and about 100 are injured.
• 14 November – The Molodezhny department store in Moscow is robbed, 3 cash-in-transit workers are killed.
• 19 November – The law "On Individual Labor Activity" is adopted, approving the use of private enterprises to manufacture some consumer goods.
• 19 November – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union issues an Appeal to Parliaments and People of the World about global nuclear disarmament.

December

• 1 December – Popular film Kin-dza-dza! is released.
• 16 December – Jeltoqsan riots spark in Alma-Ata.
• 19 December – Soviet authorities announce that Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner now can return to Moscow after a seven-year exile.

Births

January

• 1 January – Victoria Amelina, Ukrainian novelist (d. 2023)
• 4 January – Andrei Krauchanka, Belarusian decathlete
• 5 January – Yana Shemyakina, Ukrainian Olympic champion in fencing
• 6 January
  • Yuliya Chermoshanskaya, Russian Olympic 4x100 metre relay champion
  • Irina Shayk, model and television personality
• 15 January – Mariya Abakumova, Russian javelin thrower

March

• 17 March – Olesya Rulin, Russian American actress

April

• 8 April – Igor Akinfeev, Russian goalkeeper
• 11 April – Tatiana Kosintseva, Russian chess Grandmaster
• 27 April – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player

May

• 13 May – Alexander Rybak, Norwegian singer

June

• 12 June – Stanislava Komarova, Russian swimmer

July

• 22 July - Olha Bura, Ukrainian activist
• 31 July – Evgeni Malkin, Russian ice hockey player

September

• 3 September – Valdas Vasylius, Lithuanian basketball player
• 9 September – Katy Topuria, Georgian singer

October

• 16 October – Igor Mangushev, Russian mercenary leader (died 2023)
• 21 October – Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Chechen terrorist (died 2013)

Deaths

• 11 January – Ilya Averbakh, Soviet film director (born 1934)
• 30 January – Ivan Papanin, Soviet Polar explorer and twice Hero of the Soviet Union (born 1894)
• 4 February – Jānis Kalnbērziņš, former First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia (born 1893)
• 23 March – Anastasia Zuyeva, actress (born 1896)
• 7 April – Leonid Kantorovich, economist and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1912)
• 12 April – Valentin Kataev, Soviet writer (born 1897)
• 20 April – Aleksei Arbuzov, playwright (born 1908)
• 26 April – Valery Khodemchuk, Soviet engineer, working at Chernobyl reactor 4 (born 1951)
• 6 May – Sergei Simonov, Soviet weapons designer (born 1894)
• 11 May
  • Vladimir Pravik, Soviet firefighter (born 1962)
  • Aleksandr Akimov, Soviet engineer who was the shift supervisor during the events of the Chernobyl disaster (born 1953)
• 13 May – Vasily Ignatenko, Soviet firefighter who responded to the Chernobyl disaster (born 1961)
• 26 May – Vitaly Abalakov, Soviet alpinist (born 1906)
• 22 August – Vali Akhundov, First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party (1959–1969) (born 1916)
• 23 August – Mikhail Kuznetsov, Soviet actor (born 1918)
• 25 September – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1896)
• 8 November – Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician and diplomat (born 1890)
• 8 December – Anatoly Marchenko, Soviet dissident and author (born 1938)
• 15 December – Serge Lifar, Soviet dancer and choreographer (born 1905)
• 29 December – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian filmmaker, writer, and film theorist (born 1932)

See also

• 1986 in fine arts of the Soviet Union
• List of Soviet films of 1980-91