List of heads of government of Russia


Approximately 99 people have been head of the Russian government since its establishment in 1726. The chairman of government was a member of the Supreme Privy Council, which was created on February 1726 by Empress Catherine, and from September 1802 ministerial duties were allocated by the Committee of Ministers, which was established on in accordance with the proclamation of Emperor Alexander II. Beginning with Count Aleksandr Romanovich Vorontsov, the eldest of the officers was de facto chairman of the committee. Eight years after the inauguration of the manifest, the first de jure office holder was Count Nikolay Rumyantsev. The Council of Ministers was unofficially formed in October 1857, as a result of Emperor Alexander II's reforms; its first session began on December 1857. Before the actual formation of that body on November 1861, the Emperor himself was in charge. The Council of Ministers consisted of chairmen of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers, as well as high-ranking officers appointed by the Emperor. The first session ended on December 1882, after the number of files to the Council greatly decreased.
The Committee of Ministers functioned simultaneously with the second session of the Council of Ministers for six more months; Count Sergei Witte participated on both entities until the abolition of the committee on April 1906. Following that event, the duties of the committee were left to the Council of Ministers, until the formation of the Small Council in 1909, which also included deputy ministers. By the order of Emperor Nicholas II, the second session of the Council of Ministers began on October 1905, following the formation of the State Duma. Shortly after the February Revolution and the inception of the Russian Provisional Government on March 1917, Georgy Lvov from the Constitutional Democratic Party and Alexander Kerensky from the Socialist Revolutionary Party became joint Minister-Chairmen. The provisional Russian Republic was eventually replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the governmental body by the Council of People's Commissars, which was chaired from 1917–24 by Vladimir Lenin. That body was renamed Council of Ministers following a decree of the Supreme Council on 23 March 1946.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin, as the President of the Russian Federation, was automatically appointed as the Head of Government of the Russian Federation in the first two years of his mandate. The latter body took the previous name "Council of Ministers", the chairman of which became Viktor Chernomyrdin from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, replacing acting chairman Yegor Gaidar. According to the new constitution ratified on 25 December 1993, those two entities were separated. Since then, the head of that office takes the formal title "Chairmen of the Government" or colloquially "Prime Minister". Chernomyrdin resumed chairing the government, followed up by non-partisans and acting office holders. On 8 May 2008, Vladimir Putin took the office for a second term, now as a member of United Russia. Dmitry Medvedev has been the Chairman of the Government since 8 May 2012.
The youngest head of government by his accession to office was Count Karl-Fridrikh Golshteyn-Gottorpsky, at age 26, and the oldest Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, at age 81.

Russian Empire (1721–1917)

Chancellors held the most senior positions in the Russian Empire. Usually, this title was assigned to the Foreign Ministers. If the Minister had the rank of the 2nd class, he could be called Vice-Chancellor. In the entire history of the Russian Empire, there were only 12 Chancellors, fewer than reigning monarchs. As a general rule, except for the period of the Napoleonic Wars, there could be only one Chancellor at any given time. It might take as long as 10 years to appoint a new Chancellor when the previous one died. Therefore, other officers of the 1st class were Active privy councillors, 1st class.
After the appointment of Alexander Gorchakov, no more Chancellors were appointed for the last 50 years of the Russian Empire, even though the rank was not officially canceled. For the last 35 years, since the death of Gorchakov, the Russian Empire still appointed no Chancellors. The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Soviet decree on estates and civil ranks.

Heads of Posolsky Prikaz (1549–1699)

Since the 18th century, a modern system of public administration was going to be created in Russia, including the formation of bodies such as the Supreme Privy Council and the Committee of Ministers whose powers are similar to the powers of the modern Russian Government. In the period from 1726 to 1905 there was no official title for the leader of the government. The chief ministers of certain Emperor of All Russia nonetheless led the government de facto, but de jure the head of government was a monarch.

Prime Minister of the Russian Empire (1905–1917)

The modern government type in Russia came after the establishment of the Council of Ministers on 1 November 1905, created for the "management and union action principal chiefs of departments on subjects like law and senior public administration", and modelled on the relevant institutions within the constitutional states, when all the ministries and directorates have been declared part of the unified state management. The first Prime Minister was Count Sergei Witte, who was appointed on 6 November 1905.

Provisional Government/Russian Republic (1917)

After the alleged abdication of Nicholas II from the throne in favor of his brother Michael, Michael also abdicated, before the convening of the Constituent Assembly. On 14 September 1917, the Russian Republic was proclaimed. At this period, a provisional government was formed and the Prime Minister was the head of state.

Russian State (1918–1920)

The heads of government of the Russian State during the Civil War were de facto Prime Ministers in exile.

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)

The Russian SFSR maintained the title of Prime Minister as head of government.

Russian Federation (1991–present)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first head of government of post-Soviet Russia was Boris Yeltsin while the head of state was changed to the title of President of the Russian Federation, also held by Yeltsin.

Acting Prime Ministers

  • Vladimir Kokovtsov: 18–22 September 1911
  • Konstantin Pamfilov: 5 May 1942 – 2 May 1943
  • Oleg Lobov: 26 September – 6 November 1991
  • Yegor Gaidar: 15 June – 14 December 1992
  • Sergey Kiriyenko: 23 March – 24 April 1998
  • Viktor Chernomyrdin: 9–10 August 1996 and 23 August – 11 September 1998
  • Sergey Stepashin: 12–19 May 1999
  • Vladimir Putin: 9–16 August 1999
  • Mikhail Kasyanov: 7–17 May 2000
  • Viktor Khristenko: 24 February – 5 March 2004
  • Mikhail Fradkov: 7–12 May 2004 and 12–14 September 2007
  • Viktor Zubkov: 7–8 May 2008 and 7–8 May 2012
  • Dmitry Medvedev: 7–8 May 2018 and 15–16 January 2020
  • Andrey Belousov: 30 April – 19 May 2020.

    Living former Prime Ministers

As of , there are eight living former Prime Ministers. The most recent death of a former Prime Minister was that of Yevgeny Primakov on 26 June 2015, aged 85.
NameTerm of officeBorn
Ivan Silayev1990–1991
Sergey Kiriyenko1998
Sergei Stepashin1999
Vladimir Putin1999–2000 and 2008–2012
Mikhail Kasyanov2000–2004
Mikhail Fradkov2004–2007
Viktor Zubkov2007–2008
Dmitry Medvedev2012–2020

Timeline


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PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:350 left:20
AlignBars = late
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1720 till:2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1726
Colors =
id:imperial value:rgb legend: imperial
id:provisional value:rgb legend: provisional
id:soviet value:rgb legend: soviet
id:postsoviet value:rgb legend: post-soviet
Legend = columns:4 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100
TextData =
pos: textcolor:black fontsize:M
text:"Historical eras:"
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barset:PM
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width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift: anchor:till
barset:PM
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"Menshikov" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"F.M. Apraksin" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"Golovkin" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"Osterman" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"D.M. Golitsyn" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"Tolstoy" fontsize:10
from: 1726 till: 1727 color:imperial text:"K.F. Golshteyn-Gottorpsky" fontsize:10
from: 1728 till: 1730 color:imperial text:"A.G. Dolgorukov" fontsize:10
from: 1729 till: 1730 color:imperial text:"V.L. Dolgorukov" fontsize:10
from: 1730 till: 1730 color:imperial text:"V.V. Dolgorukov" fontsize:10
from: 1730 till: 1730 color:imperial text:"M.M. Golitsyn" fontsize:10
from: 1731 till: 1734 color:imperial text:"Golovkin" fontsize:10
from: 1734 till: 1740 color:imperial text:"Osterman" fontsize:10
from: 1740 till: 1741 color:imperial text:"Minikh" fontsize:10
from: 1741 till: 1741 color:imperial text:"Osterman" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1757 color:imperial text:"S.F. Apraksin" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1757 color:imperial text:"M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1757 color:imperial text:"M.M. Golitsyn" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1758 color:imperial text:"A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1760 color:imperial text:"Buturlin" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"P.I. Shuvalov" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"M.I. Vorontsov" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Trubetskoy" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"A.I. Shuvalov" fontsize:10
from: 1756 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Romanov" fontsize:10
from: 1760 till: 1761 color:imperial text:"Shakhovsky" fontsize:10
from: 1760 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Nepluyev" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"R.I. Vorontsov" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"G.L. Golshteyn-Gottorpsky" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Golshteyn-Beksky" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Minikh" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Trubetskoy" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"M.I. Vorontsov" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Vilbua" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Volkonsky" fontsize:10
from: 1761 till: 1762 color:imperial text:"Melgunov" fontsize:10
from: 1768 till: 1776 color:imperial text:"S.F. Strekalov" fontsize:10
from: 1776 till: 1787 color:imperial text:"Samoylov" fontsize:10
from: 1787 till: 1796 color:imperial text:"Veydemyer" fontsize:10
from: 1796 till: 1796 color:imperial text:"Derzhavin" fontsize:10
from: 1796 till: 1801 color:imperial text:"Veydemeyer" fontsize:10
from: 1810 till: 1812 color:imperial text:"Rumyantsev" fontsize:10
from: 1812 till: 1816 color:imperial text:"Saltykov" fontsize:10
from: 1816 till: 1827 color:imperial text:"Lopukhin" fontsize:10
from: 1827 till: 1834 color:imperial text:"Kochubey" fontsize:10
from: 1834 till: 1838 color:imperial text:"Novosiltsev" fontsize:10
from: 1838 till: 1847 color:imperial text:"Vasilchikov" fontsize:10
from: 1847 till: 1848 color:imperial text:"Levashov" fontsize:10
from: 1848 till: 1856 color:imperial text:"Chernyshyov" fontsize:10
from: 1857 till: 1861 color:imperial text:"Orlov" fontsize:10
from: 1861 till: 1864 color:imperial text:"Bludov" fontsize:10
from: 1864 till: 1872 color:imperial text:"Gagarin" fontsize:10
from: 1872 till: 1879 color:imperial text:"Ignatyev" fontsize:10
from: 1879 till: 1881 color:imperial text:"Valuyev" fontsize:10
from: 1881 till: 1886 color:imperial text:"Reytern" fontsize:10
from: 1887 till: 1895 color:imperial text:"Bunge" fontsize:10
from: 1895 till: 1903 color:imperial text:"Durnovo" fontsize:10
from: 1903 till: 1906 color:imperial text:"Witte" fontsize:10
from: 1905 till: 1906 color:imperial text:"Witte" fontsize:10
from: 1906 till: 1906 color:imperial text:"Goremykin" fontsize:10
from: 1906 till: 1911 color:imperial text:"Stolypin" fontsize:10
from: 1911 till: 1914 color:imperial text:"Kokovtsov" fontsize:10
from: 1914 till: 1916 color:imperial text:"Goremykin" fontsize:10
from: 1916 till: 1916 color:imperial text:"Shtyurmer" fontsize:10
from: 1916 till: 1917 color:imperial text:"Trepov" fontsize:10
from: 1917 till: 1917 color:imperial text:"Golitsyn" fontsize:10
from: 1917 till: 1917 color:provisional text:"Lvov" fontsize:10
from: 1917 till: 1917 color:provisional text:"Kerensky" fontsize:10
from: 1917 till: 1924 color:soviet text:"Lenin" fontsize:10
from: 1924 till: 1929 color:soviet text:"Rykov" fontsize:10
from: 1929 till: 1930 color:soviet text:"Syrtsov" fontsize:10
from: 1930 till: 1937 color:soviet text:"Sulimov" fontsize:10
from: 1937 till: 1938 color:soviet text:"Bulganin" fontsize:10
from: 1939 till: 1940 color:soviet text:"Vakhrushev" fontsize:10
from: 1940 till: 1943 color:soviet text:"Khokhlov" fontsize:10
from: 1942 till: 1943 color:soviet text:"Pamfilov " fontsize:10
from: 1943 till: 1946 color:soviet text:"Kosygin" fontsize:10
from: 1946 till: 1949 color:soviet text:"Rodionov" fontsize:10
from: 1949 till: 1952 color:soviet text:"Chernousov" fontsize:10
from: 1952 till: 1956 color:soviet text:"Puzanov" fontsize:10
from: 1956 till: 1957 color:soviet text:"Yasnov" fontsize:10
from: 1957 till: 1958 color:soviet text:"Kozlov" fontsize:10
from: 1958 till: 1962 color:soviet text:"Polyansky" fontsize:10
from: 1962 till: 1971 color:soviet text:"Voronov" fontsize:10
from: 1971 till: 1983 color:soviet text:"Solomentsev" fontsize:10
from: 1983 till: 1988 color:soviet text:"Vorotnikov" fontsize:10
from: 1988 till: 1990 color:soviet text:"Vlasov" fontsize:10
from: 1990 till: 1991 color:soviet text:"Silayev" fontsize:10
from: 1991 till: 1991 color:postsoviet text:"Lobov " fontsize:10
from: 1991 till: 1992 color:postsoviet text:"Yeltsin" fontsize:10
from: 1992 till: 1992 color:postsoviet text:"Gaidar" fontsize:10
from: 1992 till: 1998 color:postsoviet text:"Chernomyrdin" fontsize:10
from: 1998 till: 1998 color:postsoviet text:"Kiriyenko" fontsize:10
from: 1998 till: 1998 color:postsoviet text:"Chernomyrdin " fontsize:10
from: 1998 till: 1999 color:postsoviet text:"Primakov" fontsize:10
from: 1999 till: 1999 color:postsoviet text:"Stepashin" fontsize:10
from: 1999 till: 2000 color:postsoviet text:"Putin" fontsize:10
from: 2000 till: 2004 color:postsoviet text:"Kasyanov" fontsize:10
from: 2004 till: 2004 color:postsoviet text:"Khristenko " fontsize:10
from: 2004 till: 2007 color:postsoviet text:"Fradkov" fontsize:10
from: 2007 till: 2008 color:postsoviet text:"Zubkov" fontsize:10
from: 2008 till: 2012 color:postsoviet text:"Putin" fontsize:10
from: 2012 till: 2020 color:postsoviet text:"Medvedev" fontsize:10
from: 2020 till: end color:postsoviet text:"Mishustin" fontsize:10
from: 2020 till: end color:postsoviet text:"Belousov " fontsize:10

Citations