February 9 — Yu.V. Andropov died. He was succeeded as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee by K.U. Chernenko.
In the USSR, a school reform is carried out предусматривающая an increase in the length of compulsory education to 11 years (in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to 12 years).
April 8 — Pyotr Kapitsa (aged 89) died, a Soviet physicist and академик.
December 15 — CPSU Central Committee Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachev visits London, where he declares the USSR’s desire to hold talks on a substantial reduction of nuclear weapons. Margaret Thatcher responds: "I like Gorbachev. We will be able to do business with him."