# Forum About Russia Culture and History  Cool & Famous Russian Women that everyone should know about!

## Hanna

I read an article about doing business in Russia, that was praising Russian women to the skies and saying that modern Russian women are continuing a tradition of strong and inspirational women.  
I'll give some examples about Russian women than I know of, and admire - please add! Could be any woman who is Russian and is cool, heroic and inspiring!    ::   *
CATHERINE THE GREAT*
I don't know very much about her other than that she was a good monarch, although ruthless. Is there any good film about her?

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## Lampada

Жёны декабристов. Удивительные женщины.   http://rusalochka.wordpress.com/2011...cabrist-wives/   http://www.tristarmedia.com/bestofru...cembrists.html   Категория:Жёны декабристов — Википедия

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## Lampada

http://www.wild-mistress.ru/wm/wm.ns...01-970051.html

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## xdns

Anna Netrebko is a Russian operatic soprano. Anna Netrebko's video blog

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## xdns

It's a stretch to call Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg a Russian woman  :: 
But, of course, she was the most renowned female ruler of Russia.

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## Hanna

> It's a stretch to call Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg a Russian woman 
> But, of course, she was the most renowned female ruler of Russia.

 Haha, got me there! But she is famous, isn't she! 
Gosh these Germans, they are everywhere, aren't they! All the European royal families are full of them.. 
Anyway, hope the below mentioned women qualify as fullblooded Russians!  
My next person that comes to mind is the first woman in space. I am such a space geek that I have to add her. She is still alive as far as I know.  
VALENTINA TERESHKOVA      

> “Valentina Tereshkova was chosen [by Yuri Gagarin and others in the  Soviet Space Programme] to fly aboard Vostok 6, scheduled for a  June  16, 1963 launch date. It is believed that her backup was Irina   Solovyova. Tereshkova’s training included at least two long simulations   on the ground, of 6 days and 12 days duration. On June 14, 1963   cosmonaut Valeriy Bykovsky launched on Vostok 5. Tereshkova and Vostok 6   launched two days later, flying with the call sign Chaika (Seagull).   Flying two different orbits, Vostok 5 and 6 came briefly within roughly 5   km (3 mi) of each other, and the cosmonauts exchanged brief   communications. Tereshkova followed the Vostok procedure of ejecting   from the capsule some 6000 m (20,000 ft) above the ground and descending   under a parachute. She landed near Karaganda, Kazakhstan, on June 19,   1963. Her flight lasted 48 orbits totaling 70 hours 50 minutes in  space.*  She spent more time in orbit than all the U.S. Mercury  astronauts  combined.*”

 ----------------------------  Anna Akhmatova - a favourite poetess with all Russians it seems.  
Hard to appreciate poetry in a foreign language, I think, but she is so well loved that she should definitely appear among the first in the list.     
Not only is she an extraordinary poetess, but* her personal life is like a first class family, political and historical drama*, _and_ she was friends with some of the most famous cultural personalities of the 20th century. A very interesting and talented woman.  
This is another person that I'd like to see a film or a documentary about! 
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Super famous ballerina ANNA PAVLOVA    
From Wikipedia   

> Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father has been open to debate. 
> By the mid-20th century she founded her own company and performed throughout the world, with a repertory consisting primarily of abridgements of Petipa's works, and specially choreographed pieces for herself. 
> After leaving Russia, Pavlova moved to London, England, settling, in 1912, at the Ivy House on North End Road, Golders Green, near Hampstead Heath, where she lived for the rest of her life. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and where now stands a statue of her by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. The house was featured in the film "Anna Pavlova". 
> While touring in The Hague, Netherlands, Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it. She refused to have the surgery, saying "If I can't dance then I'd rather be dead." She died of pleurisy, three weeks short of her 50th birthday.

 Unless I am mistaken, Anna Pavlova is the Russian equivalent of Jane Smith - a very unpretentious name, perhaps even a bit boring. But she is very famous in the world of ballet, and also in the UK where she lived for a long time.  
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Hope you this thread is enjoyable, I like doing it! 
Please feel free to add, or watch this space for more!

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## Basil77



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## Hanna

She looks like she fits the description of heroic!!! 
Should I have heard of her......?

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## Hanna

I am adding Alexandra Kosteniuk, originally from Perm.
Apart from being an absolutely awesome chessmaster, she is cool and has a lot of style. I like her personality that comes out in her blog which I sometimes check.  She is definitely a Russian woman to admire!    
This thread did not start very well because I accidentally listed an essentially German woman as the most famous Russian woman...
Frankly I was not up to scratch on Catherine the Greats background, she just came to mind as the most famous woman associated with Russia.... I know she was considered to be a successful monark and that there were lots of stories about her. However I should have guessed that like many European monarks her actual background was not from the country she happened to rule... Oh well.  
If anyone else can think of any famous Russian women that you want people to know about, please post!

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## xdns

Portrait of this woman could be found in every Maths classroom in Russia: Sofia Kovalevskaya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   
She was the first Russian female mathematician.
She was appointed professor at Stockholm University, I didn't know that. Actually, she became the first female professor of mathematics in the world!

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## Hanna

Cool addition xdns! 
Don't know much about Maths, or what contributions she made, but I was at least familiar with the name. But I did not know she was Russian, I thought she was Polish!  
Here is another Russian woman who is a FIRST, and associated with Sweden. 
ALEXANDRA KOLLONTAI, was a revolutionary and later the world's first female ambassador. She was the Soviet ambassador both in Norway and Sweden. 
She showed a lot of personality while she was ambassador of Sweden and there are some anecdotes about rather colourful things that she did. She was a successful ambassador.

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## it-ogo

Helena Blavatsky Hpb.jpg
Guru and mystical figure. Rather well known in USA.

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## Hanna

Yeah, I've seen books by her. But I think she was into black magic! Not a very sympathetic person - although definitely famous....  
Now I am out of ideas! I am sure there must be several sports stars - but I am rubbish at sports. War heroines - I know Russia has several, but can't remember the names of any of them...   Singers... I'll think more on this, but it won't be Alla Pugatjova or Sofia Rotaru, and I can't think of anyone else who is known outside Russia. There must be several more academic people. Two women I thought were Russian, Anna German and  Rosa Luxemburg, were actually Polish.

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## it-ogo

> Yeah, I've seen books by her. But I think she was into black magic! Not a very sympathetic person - although definitely famous....

 I never heard about "black magic" in relation to her. I feel like she was more of playing around secret societies, like masons.  
There are many persons known worldwide but in separate areas like opera, sport, business...  Some wives of celebrities (Like Salvador Dali's.) 
If about Russian poetry I think Marina Tsvetaeva is more important phenomenon in Russia than Akhmatova. I think.

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