Russian Famous Names Starting with Letter L

Was a multilingual Russian-American novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine no

Was a multilingual Russian-American novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist. He also made significant contributions to entomology and had an i

Was a Russian economist and statistician of Polish descent, who lived most of his professional life

Was a Russian economist and statistician of Polish descent, who lived most of his professional life in Germany. He was of minor nobility: for his earlier publication he used the German styled "von" as Ladislaus von Bortkewitsch, for his later publications

Is a Latvian-born Swedish Social Democratic politician and a former Swedish Minister for Justice, Mi

Is a Latvian-born Swedish Social Democratic politician and a former Swedish Minister for Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. Freivalds was born in Riga, Latvia, during World War II, and escaped to Sweden with her family. She g

Is a retired female cyclist, who trained at Dynamo sports society in Panevežys[1] and represented t

Is a retired female cyclist, who trained at Dynamo sports society in Panevežys[1] and represented the USSR at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Is a former Soviet Latvian football goalkeeper who played for FK Daugava Riga and Torpedo Moscow. He

Is a former Soviet Latvian football goalkeeper who played for FK Daugava Riga and Torpedo Moscow. He is considered one of the best Latvian goalkeepers of all time.At first Laizans played on field but he didn't have especial talents. That would change when for one game the team he played for had no goalkeeper and Laizans was put in goal and since then he only played in goal, although he himself didn't like it at first because he wanted to score goals himself.

Is a retired female middle distance runner from Estonia, who twice represented the Soviet Union at t

Is a retired female middle distance runner from Estonia, who twice represented the Soviet Union at the Summer Olympics: 1964 and 1968. She set her personal best in the women's 800 metres (2:03.6) on 1967-09-04 at a meet in Kiev.

Is a Russian long distance swimmer. Winner of 8 World Championships and 2008 Olympics at age 19. She

Is a Russian long distance swimmer. Winner of 8 World Championships and 2008 Olympics at age 19. She has won both 5 km and 10 km events at all subsequent World Championships. The leading American magazine Swimming World named her open water swimmer of the

Was a Soviet Russian film director. She went to the Moscow Film school (VGIK) as a pupil of Alexande

Was a Soviet Russian film director. She went to the Moscow Film school (VGIK) as a pupil of Alexander Dovzhenko. She was a student of Dovzhenko's for 18 months until he died in 1956. Shepitko graduated from VGIK in 1963 with her prize winning diploma film

Is a Russian chess Woman Grandmaster. Her peak was in the 1950s and 1960s. She was three times Sovie

Is a Russian chess Woman Grandmaster. Her peak was in the 1950s and 1960s. She was three times Soviet women's chess champion (1954, 1958, and 1959).

Is a Russian handball player who competed for the Unified Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Is a Russian handball player who competed for the Unified Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Is a Moldovan rower who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1976 Summer Olympics.In 1976 she was a

Is a Moldovan rower who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1976 Summer Olympics.In 1976 she was a crew member of the Soviet boat which won the silver medal in the quadruple sculls event.

Is a retired heptathlete who represents Estonia, having changed nationality from her birth country U

Is a retired heptathlete who represents Estonia, having changed nationality from her birth country Ukraine.

Is an former Ukrainian butterfly swimmer who competed for the former Soviet Union at the 1980 Summer

Is an former Ukrainian butterfly swimmer who competed for the former Soviet Union at the 1980 Summer Olympics, competing in the 200 metre and 100 metre events. Polivoda represent?d USSR at the 1979 Tokyo World Cup, and in international meets with USA, UK,

Is a former Ukrainian-born tennis player who represented Latvia. A former number-one ranked doubles

Is a former Ukrainian-born tennis player who represented Latvia. A former number-one ranked doubles player, Neiland won two women's doubles Grand Slam titles. She also won two singles titles and sixty-five doubles titles.

Was a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic golds. She still holds the

Was a Soviet gymnast who was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic golds. She still holds the record for being awarded the most Olympic medals at 18 (nine gold medals, five silver and four bronze). Born Larisa Dirij, she first practiced ballet, but turned to gymnastics after her choreographer moved out of town. She graduated from high school in 1953 and moved to Kiev to attend the Lenin Polytechnic Institute and continue training.

Is a Latvian speed skater. Lasma Avotina married Estonian speed skater Toivo Kauniste in 1962 and th

Is a Latvian speed skater. Lasma Avotina married Estonian speed skater Toivo Kauniste in 1962 and they settled in Riga. Competing for the Soviet Union as Lasma Kauniste, she won bronze at the Soviet Allround Championships in 1967 and silver at the World A

Was an Academy Award-nominated Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films

Was an Academy Award-nominated Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films. Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne, however his real name was Zvi Mosheh (Hirsh) Skikne and he was cal

Was a professional cyclist from Estonia, who represented his native country at three consecutive Sum

Was a professional cyclist from Estonia, who represented his native country at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1992. He became a pro in 1995 and rode for British teams. Aus died while training, when he was struck by a drunken driver.

Is an Estonian triple jumper.He finished seventh at the 2001 Summer Universiade. He also competed at

Is an Estonian triple jumper.He finished seventh at the 2001 Summer Universiade. He also competed at the 2002 European Championships, the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2006 European Championships without reaching the final.

Is an Estonian professional footballer. He plays the position of midfielder or striker and is 1.83 m

Is an Estonian professional footballer. He plays the position of midfielder or striker and is 1.83 m tall and weighs 78 kg. His former clubs include JK Tervis Pärnu, FC Flora Tallinn, FC Valga Warrior and FC Pärnu Vaprus.

An Estonian-born chemist who has made noteworthy contributions to organometallic chemistry.Vaska was

An Estonian-born chemist who has made noteworthy contributions to organometallic chemistry.Vaska was educated at the Baltic University in Hamburg, Germany (1946) and subsequently at the Universität Göttingen (1946-1949) where he received his vordiplom (equivalent to the American B.S. degree). He pursued his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Texas (1952-1956). He was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University (1956-1957) where he conducted research on magnetochemistry. In 1957 he took a position as Fellow at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh where he remained until 1964. During that time, the Mellon Institute housed a number of future chemical luminaries, include Paul Lauterbur and R. Bruce King. Vaska moved as an associate professor to Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York where, since 1990, he remains Professor Emeritus of Chemistry. His brother Vootele Vaska is a philosopher.

Is a Latvian ice hockey player who currently plays for Dinamo Riga of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL

Is a Latvian ice hockey player who currently plays for Dinamo Riga of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). His Preliminary agreement with HC MVD has been canceled.

Was an 18th century architect born in the federal part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Gr

Was an 18th century architect born in the federal part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and most of his designs were built there. Scholars consider him the first professional Lithuanian architect. In his youth he travel

Is a Lithuanian football defender currently playing for FK Ekranas.

Is a Lithuanian football defender currently playing for FK Ekranas.

Was a Soviet satirical and children's writer. He is best known for his book "Starik Hottabych" (????

Was a Soviet satirical and children's writer. He is best known for his book "Starik Hottabych" (?????? ????????, Old man Hottabych, 1937), a fairy tale (heavily coloured with communist and pro-Soviet ideology) telling the story of a genie who is freed fro