← 1960 1959 1958 1961 in the Soviet Union → 1962 1963 1964
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of the Soviet Union List of years in the Soviet Union

← 1960 1959 1958 1961 in Russia → 1962 1963 1964
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
See also:	History of Russia Timeline of Russian history List of years in Russia

The following lists events that happened during 1961 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Incumbents

• First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - Nikita Khrushchev
• Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union - Leonid Brezhnev
• Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union - Nikita Khrushchev

Births

• 30 March - Sergei Nozikov, former Russian professional footballer
• 1 June - Yevgeny Prigozhin, mercenary chief

Deaths

• 4 October - Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Soviet Orthodox missionary and writer, Exarch of Russian Church in North America (b. 1880)

Events

• 1 September - first of the 1961 Soviet nuclear tests^[1]
• 13 September - Exhibition of Leningrad artists^[2]
• 5 November - 1961 Elbarusovo school fire killed 110 students and teachers.^[3]