over a World War II peace deal in 1941. June 2 - 42 people are injured and 13,000 people evacuated from settlements in Russia's Udmurt Republic following an ammo depot fire. June 3 - 57 people are injured, and 28,000 people have been forced to evacuate, following an explosion at an army munitions depot in Russia's western Ural Mountains region. July 20 - Beer is legally reclassified from a foodstuff to an alcoholic drink so that its sale will be more strongly controlled. September 7 - 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash: A Yak Service Yak-42 carrying the KHL hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashes near Yaroslavl, Russia, killing 44. Popular culture Sports January 5 - Russia men's national junior ice hockey team won the 2011 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. May - The Russian professional basketball team UNICS Kazan wins the Eurocup Basketball competition. Births Notable deaths January January 1 - Nikolay Abramov, 26, Russian footballer. George Alexandrovich Ball, 83, Russian writer. January 4 - Chrysanth Chepil, 73, Russian Orthodox prelate, Metropolitan of Vyatka-Slobodskoy. January 6 - Pyotr Sumin, 64, Russian politician, Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast (1996–2010). January 31 - Nikolay Dorizo, 87, Russian poet. February February 3 - Tatyana Shmyga, 82, Russian operetta singer and film actress (Hussar Ballad), People's Artist of the USSR, vascular disease. February 24 - Sergei Nikitich Kovalev, 91, Russian designer of nuclear submarines. February 25 - Valery Bezruchenko, 70, Russian clarinetist and music teacher. March March 4 - Mikhail Simonov, 81, Russian aircraft designer, chief designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau (1983–2011), after long illness. March 13 - Vitaly Vulf, 80, Russian theater critic and television host. March 14 - Eduard Gushchin, 70, Russian Olympic bronze medal-winning (1968) athlete. March 21 - Nikolai Andrianov, 58, Russian gymnast, most medaled athlete at the 1976 Summer Olympics, after long illness. March 25 - Pavel Leonov, 90, Russian naïve artist. March 26 - Alexander Barykin, 59, Russian musician, heart attack. March 30 - Lyudmila Gurchenko, 75, Russian film actress and singer, People's Artist of the USSR. March 31 - Vassili Kononov, 88, Russian military veteran and war criminal. April April 1 - George Gryaznov, 77, Russian Orthodox Archbishop of Chelyabinsk and Zlatoust (1989–1996), stroke. April 3 - Yevgeny Lyadin, 84, Russian footballer. April 6 - Igor Birman, 85, Russian-born American writer and economist. April 10 - Mikhail Rusyayev, 46, Russian footballer. April 27 - Igor Kon, 82, Russian