1990 in the Soviet Union

January

• January 12 – Baku pogrom
• January 19–20 – Black January

March

• March 4 – 1990 Russian Supreme Soviet election
• March 11 – Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania

May

• May 4 – Declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia"
• May 6 – Bridge of Flowers
• May 9 – 1990 Moscow Victory Day Parade
• May 16 – Congress of People's Deputies of Russia is established
• May 30–31 – 1990 Vrancea earthquakes

June

• June 1 – 1990 Chemical Weapons Accord
• June 4–6 – Osh riots
• June 7–8 – 1990 Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church
• June 12 – Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
• June 19 – Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is established

July

• Unknown date – Gazprombank was founded.^{[citation needed]}
• July 14 – The 28th Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is elected
• July 14 – Central Committee elected by the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• July 16 – Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine
• July 27 – Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic

August

• August 10 – Tbilisi–Agdam bus bombing
• August 30 – The 500 Days program is established

October

• October 11 – Declaration of State Sovereignty of Bashkortostan
• October 17 – VTB Bank was founded.^{[citation needed]}
• October 24 – Soviet nuclear tests
• October 27 – Askar Akayev is elected as the 1st President of Kyrgyzstan
• October 27 – The first episode of Pole Chudes is presented

November

November 7 – The Last Parade of The October Revolution takes on Moscow's Red Square on 73th Anniversary of the Bolsheviks Seizure of Power

January

• January 2 — Leonhard Merzin, Estonian actor (b. 1934)
• January 4 — Boris Nikolsky, physical chemist and radiochemist (b. 1900)
• January 5 — Genrikh Sidorenkov, ice hockey player (b. 1931)
• January 6 — Pavel Cherenkov, physicist (b. 1904)
• January 19
  • Alexander Pechersky, soldier and humanitarian (b. 1909)
  • Movses Gorgisyan, Armenian activist and politician (b. 1961)
  • Maharram Seyidov, Azerbaijani soldier (b. 1952)
• January 26 — Dodo Abashidze, actor and film director (b. 1924)
• January 30 — Nina Niss-Goldman, painter, sculptor and teacher (b. 1892)

February

• February 2 — Paul Ariste, linguist (b. 1905)
• February 16 — Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, 14th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine (b. 1918)
• February 22 — Evald Seepere, Estonian boxer (b. 1911)
• February 23 — David Samoylov, poet (b. 1920)

March

• March 4
  • Konstantin Kokkinaki, fighter and test pilot (b. 1910)
  • Vasily Margelov, general (b. 1908)
• March 7 — Shenork I Kaloustian of Constantinople, 82th Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1913)
• March 9 — George Costakis, collector of Russian art (b. 1913)
• March 14 — Yuri Sokolov, Soviet Olympic judoka (1988) and criminal (b. 1961)
• March 15 — Mykola Makhynia, football player and coach (b. 1912)
• March 20 — Lev Yashin, footballer (b. 1929)
• March 30 — Vladimir Stolnikov, boxer (b. 1934)

April

• April 4
  • Leonid Dushkin, rocket engineer (b. 1910)
  • Mark Fradkin, composer (b. 1914)
• April 5 — Lev Skvirsky, lieutenant-general (b. 1903)
• April 6 — Yevgeny Savitsky, fighter ace and air marshal (b. 1910)
• April 19 — Sergey Filippov, actor and comedian (b. 1912)
• April 24
  • Endel Pärn, actor and singer (b. 1914)
  • Vladimir Saprykin, Red Army officer and war hero (b. 1916)
• April 27 — Vladimir Kanygin, middleweight weightlifter (b. 1948)
• April 30
  • Vasili Yermasov, football goalkeeper and manager (b. 1913)
  • Mark Zborowski, anthropologist and spy (b. 1908)

May

• May 3 — Pimen I of Moscow, 14th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' (b. 1910)
• May 11 — Venedikt Yerofeyev, writer and dissident (b. 1938)
• May 12 — Andrei Kirilenko, politician (b. 1906)
• May 15
  • Porfiry Krylov, painter and graphic artist (b. 1902)
  • Anna Schchian, botanist (b. 1905)
• May 24 — Julijans Vaivods, Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1895)
• May 26 — Varlen Pen, painter (b. 1916)
• May 28 — Inna Gulaya, actress (b. 1940)

June

• June 1 — Natalia Tkachenko, painter (b. 1908)
• June 4 — Yulian Bromley, anthropologist (b. 1921)
• June 5 — Vasili Kuznetsov, politician (b. 1901)
• June 6
  • Sobir Kamolov, 10th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbek SSR (b. 1910)
  • Fyodor Remezov, general (b. 1896)
• June 11 — Irakly Andronikov, literature historian and media personality (b. 1908)
• June 14 — Ralf Liivar, Estonian football player (b. 1903)
• June 17 — Aleksandrs Leimanis, film director (b. 1913)
• June 19 — Aleksandr Goncharov, field hockey player and Olympian (b. 1959)
• June 22
  • Marat Podoksin, painter (b. 1930)
  • Ilya Frank, nuclear physicist (b. 1908)
• June 25 — Yevgeniya Sechenova, sprinter (b. 1918)
• June 28 — Borys Ivchenko, Ukrainian actor and film director (b. 1941)

July

• July 1 – Ivan Serov, 1st Chairman of the Committee for State Security (b. 1905)
• July 4 — Pavel Utkin, painter (b. 1920)
• July 10 – Sergei Rudenko, general (b. 1904)
• July 12 – Savkuz Dzarasov, wrestler and Olympic medalist (b. 1930)
• July 15
  • Oleg Kagan, violinist (b. 1946)
  • Enn Roos, sculptor (b. 1908)
• July 16
  • Mikhail Matusovsky, poet (b. 1915)
  • Valentin Pikul, novelist (b. 1928)
• July 17 – Lidiya Ginzburg, literary critic (b. 1902)
• July 19
  • Georgi Burkov, actor (b. 1933)
  • Gusman Kosanov, Olympic sprinter (b. 1935)
• July 20 – Sergei Parajanov, filmmaker (b. 1924)
• July 22 – Eduard Streltsov, footballer (b. 1937)

August

• August 2 — Vladilen Nikiforov, Soviet painter (b. 1930)
• August 6 — Baqi Urmançe, painter, sculptor, and graphic artist (b. 1897)
• August 15 — Viktor Tsoi, singer and songwriter (b. 1962)
• August 22 – Boris Shcherbina, politician (b. 1919)
• August 24 – Sergei Dovlatov, journalist and writer (b. 1941)
• August 29 – Solomon Mikhlin, mathematician (b. 1908)
• August 30 — Timofey Ksenofontov, Soviet painter
• August 31 – Sergey Volkov, figure skater and Olympian (b. 1949)

September

• September 1 – Afanasy Beloborodov, general (b. 1903)
• September 3
  • Slava Amiragov, Olympic rower (b. 1926)
  • Eugene Martynov, singer (b. 1948)
• September 8 – Boris Tenin, actor (b. 1905)
• September 9
  • Alexander Men, theologian (b. 1935)
  • Anatoly Sofronov, author and poet (b. 1911)
  • Rimantas Stankevičius, cosmonaut and pilot (b. 1944)
• September 14 – Leonid Ivanov, footballer (b. 1921)
• September 15 – Valentin Filatyev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1930)
• September 16 – Semyon Kurkotkin, general (b. 1917)
• September 21 – Alexander Konstantinopolsky, chess player (b. 1910)
• September 27 – Matvey Blanter, composer "Katyusha" (b. 1903)

October

• October 4 – Sergey Lapin, diplomat (b. 1912)
• October 9 – Boris Paichadze, footballer (b. 1915)
• October 14 – Irina Odoyevtseva, poet, novelist and memoirist (b. 1895)
• October 15 – Boris Piotrovsky, archaeologist (b. 1908)
• October 18 – Pyotr Fedoseyev, philosopher and politician (b. 1908)
• October 20 – Yevgeniya Dolinyuk, kolkhoznik, politician and writer (b. 1914)
• October 22 – Nikolai Rybnikov, film actor (b. 1930)
• October 24 — Boris Maluev, Soviet painter and graphic artist (b. 1929)
• October 25 – Zara Mints, literary scientist (b. 1927)
• October 28
  • Aleksandra Chudina, track and field athlete and volleyball player (b. 1923)
  • Kolau Nadiradze, poet (b. 1895)
• October 29 – Aleksey Alelyukhin, flying ace (b. 1920)

November

• November 3 – Nikolai Rakov, violinist (b. 1908)
• November 5 – Suleiman Yudakov, composer (b. 1916)
• November 7 — Stepan Privedentsev, painter (b. 1916)
• November 14 – Leonid Trauberg, film director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
• November 16 – Dmitri Skobeltsyn, physicist (b. 1892)
• November 19 – Georgy Flyorov, Soviet nuclear physicist (b. 1913)
• November 25 – Merab Mamardashvili, philosopher (b. 1930)

December

• December 1 – Anton Kochinyan, 11th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia (b. 1913)
• December 3 – Heino Mandri, film and stage actor (b. 1922)
• December 8 – Boris Kochno, dancer, librettist and poet (b. 1904)
• December 15 – Mikayil Jabrayilov, Azerbaijani soldier (b. 1952)
• December 21 – Ivan Knunyants, chemist (b. 1906)
• December 25
  • Vladimir Belousov, geologist (b. 1907)
  • Alexander Luchinsky, general (b. 1900)
• December 27 – Abulfat Aliyev, opera singer (b. 1926)
• December 31 – Vasily Lazarev, cosmonaut (b. 1928)