The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy (Russian: Академия Российская, Императорская Российская академия) was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example of the Académie française. In 1841 it was merged into the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (the predecessor of today's Russian Academy of Sciences).

Presidents

• 1783–1796 – Yekaterina Dashkova (concurrently serving as the Director of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences)
• 1796–1801 – Pavel Bakunin (Бакунин, Павел Петрович) (concurrently serving as the Director, and later President, of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences)
• 1801–1813 – Andrey Andreyevich Nartov (Нартов, Андрей Андреевич)
• 1813–1841 – Aleksandr Shishkov (Шишков, Александр Семёнович)