Russian and Soviet leaders for the entirety of the country's history as a republic come in three flavors. The premiers are Prime Ministers, heads of government. This office could hold a lot of importance — for example, during Stalin's time his second in command, Molotov, held it. It also was Vladimir Lenin's primary office. There was also the title of the President'note , who held no power at all and existed merely for shownote . The general secretary office meant leadership in the Communist Party and was established by Joseph Stalin as the most important in the country. Finally, the office of President was made into one with real authority by Mikhail Gorbachev and remains The New Russia's most important position.
Tsar Tsar Autocrats lists the pre-republican Russian leaders.
- Provisional Government (Premiers)
- Prince Georgy Lvov (1917)
- Alexander Kerensky (1917)
- White Guards (military dictators)
- General Lavr Kornilov (1917-1918, founder of the White movement)
- Admiral Alexander Kolchak (1918-1920)
- General Anton Denikin (1919-1920 in Southern Russia, 1920 as the leader of all White movement)
- General Peter Wrangel (1920-1921)
- Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924, Premier)
- Josef Stalin (1925-1953, General Secretary and Premier)
- Georgy Malenkov (1953-1955, Premier)
- Nikita Khrushchev (1955-1964, First Secretary)
- Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982, General Secretary and Premier)
- Yuri Andropov (1982-1984, General Secretary)
- Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985, General Secretary)
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991, General Secretary and President)
- Boris Yeltsin (1991-2000)
- Vladimir Putin (2000-2008)
- Dmitry Medvedev (2008-2012)
- Vladimir Putin again (2012-incumbent)
