Staraya Russa (Russian: Старая Русса, IPA: [ˈstarəjə ˈrusːə]) is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Polist River, 99 kilometers (62 mi) south of Veliky Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast.

According to this hypothesis, Russa comes from Rus'—a Slavic people, who settled in the vicinity to control trade routes leading from Novgorod to Polotsk and Kiev—which, in turn, is usually thought to originate from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen (the rowing crews) or Roden, as it was known in earlier times.

Thought to have originated in the mid-10th century, it was first mentioned as Rusa (Cyrillic: Руса) in chronicles for the year 1167[3] as one of three main towns of the Novgorod Republic, alongside Pskov and Ladoga.

Brine springs made the saltworks the principal business activity in the town, which was the biggest center of salt industry in the Novgorod region.

Catherine II appointed German mineralogy expert Franz Ludwig von Cancrin as director of the salt-works in 1783.

In the 1820s, military settlements were organized in Staraya Russa and around, in accordance with the project designed by Aleksey Arakcheyev, an influential statesman.

In August 1927, the uyezds were abolished and, effective October 1, 1927, Starorussky District was established, with the administrative center in Staraya Russa.

[21] On September 19, 1939, Staraya Russa was elevated in status to that of a town of oblast significance and thus ceased to be a part of the district.

On July 5, 1944, Staraya Russa was transferred to newly established Novgorod Oblast and remained there ever since.

A summer residence of the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who wrote his novels The Brothers Karamazov and Demons there, is open to visitors as a museum.