Leaders of Muscovy, Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union

Princes and grand princes of Moscow (Muscovy): Danilovich dynasty*

Daniel (son of Alexander Nevsky) c. 1276-1303

Yury 1303-25

Ivan I 1325-40

Semyon (Simeon) 1340-53

Ivan II 1353-59

Dmitry (II) Donskoy 1359-89

Vasily I 1389-1425

Vasily II 1425-62

Ivan III 1462-1505

Vasily III 1505-33

Ivan IV 1533-47

Tsars of Russia: Danilovich dynasty

Ivan IV 1547-84

Fyodor I 1584-98

Tsars of Russia: Time of Troubles

Boris Godunov (Godunov, Boris) 1598-1605

Fyodor II 1605

False Dmitry (Dmitry, False) 1605-06

Vasily (IV) Shuysky 1606-10

Interregnum 1610-12

Tsars and empresses of Russia and the Russian Empire: Romanov dynasty**

Michael 1613-45

Alexis 1645-76

Fyodor III 1676-82

Peter I ( Ivan V co-ruler 1682-96) 1682-1725

Catherine I 1725-27

Peter II 1727-30

Anna 1730-40

Ivan VI 1740-41

Elizabeth 1741-61 (O.S.)

Peter III*** 1761-62 (O.S.)

Catherine II 1762-96

Paul 1796-1801

Alexander I 1801-25

Nicholas I 1825-55

Alexander II 1855-81

Alexander III 1881-94

Nicholas II 1894-1917

Provisional Government 1917

Chairmen (or first secretaries) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Lenin, Vladimir Ilich) 1917-24

Joseph Stalin (Stalin, Joseph) 1924-53

Georgy Malenkov (Malenkov, Georgy Maksimilianovich) 1953

Nikita Khrushchev (Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich) 1953-64

Leonid Brezhnev (Brezhnev, Leonid Ilich) 1964-82

Yury Andropov (Andropov, Yury Vladimirovich) 1982-84

Konstantin Chernenko (Chernenko, Konstantin Ustinovich) 1984-85

Mikhail Gorbachev (Gorbachev, Mikhail) 1985-91

President of Russia

Boris Yeltsin (Yeltsin, Boris) 1991-99

Vladimir Putin (Putin, Vladimir) 1999-2008

Dmitry Medvedev (Medvedev, Dmitry) 2008-

*The Danilovich dynasty is a late branch of the Rurik dynasty, named after its progenitor, Daniel.

**On Oct. 22 (O.S.), 1721, Peter I the Great took the title of "emperor" (Russian: imperator), considering it a larger, more European title than the Russian "tsar." However, despite the official titling, conventional usage took an odd turn. Every male sovereign continued usually to be called tsar (and his consort tsarina, or tsaritsa), but every female sovereign was conventionally called empress (imperatritsa).

***The direct line of the Romanov dynasty came to an end in 1761 with the death of Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I. However, subsequent rulers of the "Holstein-Gottorp dynasty" (the first, Peter III, was son of Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna, daughter of Peter I) took the family name of Romanov.