2003 in Russia

Events from the year 2003 in Russia.

Events

* 23 March - A referendum in the break-away republic of Chechnya approves a new constitution.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=653–656]
* 17 April - Assassination of Sergei Yushenkov, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party and critic of President Vladimir Putin.
* 29 April - 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.
* 12 May - 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. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3027343.stm|title="Chechnya hit by new suicide attack" BBC News|date=2003-05-14|accessdate=2008-04-17]
* 25 October - Arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chairman of the YUKOS oil company, on charges of fraud.
* 27 October–30 October - 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.
* 7 December - President Putin's United Russia party wins the largest number of seats in the legsilative election.

Deaths

* 26 January - Valeriy Brumel, athlete (born 1942)
* 17 April - Sergei Yushenkov, politician (born 1950)
* 28 May - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (born 1917)
* 5 July - Roman Lyashenko, hockey player (born 1979)
* 23 September - Yuri Senkevich, TV anchorman (born 1937)

References