Only one point was needed to reach the semi-finals in Croatia, but Russia failed to do that against France in the group stage, losing 19–20; a draw would have been enough to qualify.

Already in the early stage leading ten balls, the Vikings hindered the Russians coming back, and so Russia lost 34–27.

[6] After the Olympic Games, Anna Kareeva, Oksana Romenskaya and Natalya Shipilova decided to retire from handball.

[7][8] Prior to the 2008 European Championship in Macedonia, players such as Polina Vyakhireva, Yana Uskova, Ekaterina Andryushina, Lyudmila Postnova and Irina Bliznova could not compete for Russia due to injuries or disease; they were replaced by nine debutants.

[13] Russia qualified to the Olympics for the third time, through the qualification tournament taking place from 18 to 20 March 2016 in Astrakhan.

In the knockout stage, the Russians defeated Angola in the quarterfinal, and in the marathon semi-final match between Norway claimed the deciding point in overtime.

[citation needed] In August 2019, national team's head coach Trefliov was replaced by Rostov-Don's Ambros Martin.

[17] The Russian team, after winning eight matches in a row was eventually defeated by the Dutch in the semi-finals by a one-point difference, which happened after a last-minute shot in the second half, leaving a final result of 32–33 for Russia against the Netherlands.

[18] Russia went on to win the bronze match against Norway, 33–28; this was the first time since 2009 that the Russians won a medal at the Worlds.

[citation needed] Russia went to the 2020 Europeans with less optimism; three injured top players – Elena Mikhaylichenko, Anna Sen and Anna Viakhireva – had to skip the championships; reduced team practice sessions of only one week, for the first time taking place in a sports school hall; missing test matches due to the worldwide situation imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the main round, the Russians defeated Montenegro, played a draw match against France and lost against Denmark.

Martin decided to retire from his position as head coach, expressing his will to focus on family life instead.

[21] Prior to the Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympics, which were postponed to July–August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, team Russia went through the Hungarian leg of the qualification tournament, which took place Győr.

[27] The team lost its opening Olympic match to Sweden, then drew Hungary, and after that went on a five-match winning streak all the way to the gold medal game, beating Norway in the semi-finals by one point, just as they did in 2016.

This time, the French prevailed, 30–25, but Russia won silver, its third Olympic medal after Soviet collapse.

[citation needed] On 23 September 2021, Lyudmila Bodniyeva was announced as the team's new head coach, after Alekseyev's contract ran out.