On 15 October 1552 (New Style – 2 October Old Style) the forces of Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan in the final battle in the Russo-Kazan Wars that were waged between 1439 – 1552.
This year, for the first time since 1989, the authorities in Kazan banned the commemoration of the event organised each year by the All-Tatar Public Centre on 15 October. However the city court subsequently ruled that the ban was unlawful and permitted the commemoration to take place on 18 October.
On 15 October 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community.”
