- January 7, 1598 - Feodor I of Russia died with no children.
- January 15, 1714 - The northwestern territory of the Kazan Governorate was transferred to the newly established Nizhny Novgorod Governorate.
- January 25, 1721 - Peter established the Holy Synod, a body of ten clergymen chaired by a secular official, that was to head the Russian Orthodox Church in lieu of the Patriarch of Moscow.
- January 28, 1725 - Peter died of urinary problems. He failed to name a successor; one of Peter's closest advisers, Aleksandr Menshikov, convinced the Imperial Guard to declare in favor of Peter's wife Catherine I.
- January 31, 1924 - The 1924 Soviet Constitution came into effect.