Yanis Kanidis (Greek: Γιάννης Κανίδης, Russian: Иван Константинович Каниди, romanized: Ivan Constantinovich Kanidi; January 1, 1930 – September 3, 2004) was a Russian physical education teacher, born in Georgia of Caucasus Greek origin.

When armed Chechen extremists took more than 1,200 school children and adults hostage on September 1, 2004, in the Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia, in what has become known as the Beslan school hostage crisis, 74-year-old Kanidis insisted on staying with his students, helped them survive and ultimately died to save their lives.

Two days after the start of the hostage taking, a number of nursing mothers were allowed to leave the building with their babies.

According to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, he was killed when he jumped on a grenade the terrorists had thrown at fleeing children, sacrificing his life to save theirs.

On December 9, 2004, Kanidis was posthumously awarded the medal For Protection of Human Rights by the Russian Government.