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Prince Gavriil Petrovich Gagarin was a Russian writer, senator and minister of the Gagarin family. Active Privy Councillor (1800), under Paul I – member of the Imperial Council, under Alexander I – Minister of Commerce. One of the largest figures of the Masonic movement in Russia.

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Karion Istomin was a Russian poet, translator, and one of the first Muscovite enlighteners.

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Ivan Andreyevich Krylov is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalist, he only discovered his true genre at the age of 40. While many of his earlier fables were loosely based on Aesop's and La Fontaine's, later fables were original work, often with a satirical bent.

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Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin was the third permanent Russian ambassador abroad, succeeding Andrey Matveyev in The Hague and one of the closest associates of Peter the Great. He was also the tsar's brother-in-law, being married to Xenia, daughter of Feodor Abramovich Lopukhin and sister of Eudoxia Lopukhina.

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Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a Russian Imperial polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art, philology, optical devices and others. Lomonosov was also a poet and influenced the formation of the modern Russian literary language.

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Tsarevna Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia was a Russian playwright. She was the elder daughter of Tsar Alexis and his second wife, Natalia Naryshkina, and the sister of Peter the Great.

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Alexander Nikolayevich Radishchev was a Russian author and social critic who was arrested and exiled under Catherine the Great. He brought the tradition of radicalism in Russian literature to prominence with his 1790 novel Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. His depiction of socio-economic conditions in Russia resulted in his exile to Siberia until 1797.

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Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostopchin was a Russian statesman and General of the Infantry who served as the Governor-General of Moscow during the French invasion of Russia. He was also known as a satirical writer who ridiculed Francophiles.

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Princess Natalia Borisovna Dolgorukova, née Sheremeteva, was one of the first Russian women writers. She has been called the most accomplished Russian memoirist of the 18th century.