The Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) was established at the founding congress in Moscow on April 12, 1995. Almost all the largest independent trade unions that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including in the wake of mass strikes of those years, took part in the creation of the KTR - trade unions of miners, air traffic controllers, sailors, civil aviation pilots, railway workers. These trade unions were not affiliated with the Soviet state trade unions of the VCSPS system and in their activities relied on the principles of internal democracy, self-government, independence in making their decisions from the state and employers.

However, shortly after the establishment of the KTR, due to disagreements over the development and organizational structure of the confederation, a number of trade unions left it, creating the All-Russian Confederation of Labour (VKT). Transport workers' organizations formed the basis of the Confederation of Labour of Russia, and industrial trade unions formed the basis of the All—Russian Confederation of Labour. At the same time, for many years, the Confederation of Labour of Russia and the All-Russian Confederation of Labour, while maintaining organizational independence, maintained close partnerships, coordinating actions and acting jointly as initiators of trade union actions and campaigns. The VKT and KTR coordinated within the framework of the Russian Trilateral Commission, in which both confederations were represented, and cooperation was actively conducted at the international level — in particular, within the framework of the International Labour Organization. In November 2000, the VKT and KTR were admitted to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, and after its unification with the World Confederation of Labour in 2006, both Russian organizations became founding member organizations of the International Confederation of Trade Unions.

In the 2000s and early 2010s, new independent trade unions began to form en masse at the enterprises of multinational companies in the automotive, food industry, education and healthcare sectors. These organizations later formed the basis of the Interregional Trade Union of Automotive Industry Workers (MPRA, later became known as the Interregional Trade Union "Workers' Association"), the Interregional Trade Union "New Trade Unions" ("Novoprof"), the Trade Union of Health workers "Action", interregional trade unions "Teacher" and "University Solidarity". The active struggle and collective actions of workers in these sectors gave a new impetus to the independent Russian trade union movement, which began to consolidate around the All-Russian Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Labour of Russia. The two confederations became the unconditional centers of the independent trade union movement, being the keepers of democratic working traditions.

The process of direct unification of the two Russian trade union centers was launched in the second half of the 2000s. The congresses of the VKT in November 2008 and the KTR in April 2009 decided to unite the two confederations. At a joint meeting of the Councils of the KTR and the VKT in May 2009, the organizing committee of the unification congress was established. Other Russian independent trade unions and trade unions soon joined the unification process. On May 27, 2011, an extraordinary unification congress of the KTR was held in Moscow, which summed up the unification within the confederation of free trade Unions and trade unions of Russia. Currently, the Confederation of Labour of Russia unites the majority of independent trade unions operating in Russia, representing workers in various sectors of the economy.

You can read more about the history of the Russian trade union movement and the Confederation of Labour of Russia in the publications:
The century of solidarity. Russian trade unions 1905-2015,
Confederation of Labour of Russia. History of formation and struggle and
Labour and trade union movement in Russia. From the past to the future