The history of computing hardware in the former Soviet Bloc is somewhat different from that of the Western world. As a result of the CoCom embargo, computers could not be imported in a large scale from capitalist countries. All computer hardware produced in the socialist countries was either designed locally or^{[neutrality is disputed]} derived or copied from Western models by the intelligence agencies, tacitly studied, and reproduced. This redevelopment led to some incompatibilities with IEC and IEEE standards, such as Integrated circuit pins on 2.5 mm (0.098 in) spacing instead of 2.54 mm (0.100 in) spacing. This made Soviet chips unsalable on the world market outside the Comecon, and made test machinery more expensive.

BESM (БЭСМ) is the name of a series of Soviet mainframe computers built in 1950-1960s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina" ("Большая Электронно-Счётная Машина"), literally "Large Electronically Computing Machine". The series began as a successor to MESM ("Malaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina", "Small Electronically Computing Machine"). MESM was built between 1948 and 1951 and was one of the first electronic computers produced in the continental Europe.

Sergey Fedorovich Lebedev (Russian: Сергей Фёдорович Лебедев; January 1868 – December 1942) was a Russian chess master.

S.F. Lebedev lived in Saint Petersburg before World War I, during and after the war (Petrograd, Leningrad). He took 4th at Moscow 1899 (the 1st All-Russian Masters' Tournament, Mikhail Chigorin won), took 3rd at St. Petersburg 1900 (Chigorin and Alexander Levin won), tied for 8-10th at Moscow 1900/01 (the 2nd RUS-ch won by Chigorin), thrice won, jointly with Grigory Helbach (1), ahead of Abkin (2), and ahead of Emmanuel Schiffers (3) in St. Petersburg in 1901, and tied for 9-10th in the Kiev 1903 chess tournament (the 3rd RUS-ch, Chigorin won).

He shared 2nd with Simon Alapin, behind Sergey von Freymann, in 1907, won (Quadrangular) in 1908, tied for 7-8th (All-Russian Amateur Tournament, Alexander Alekhine won) in 1909, tied for 1st-3rd with Freymann and Grigory Levenfish in 1910, took 15th (the 8th All-Russian Masters' Tournament (RUS-ch), Alekhine and Aron Nimzowitsch won) in 1913/14, all played in St. Petersburg.