The Russian Combined Events Indoor Championships was held on 9–11 February 1996 in Lipetsk in the Yubileiny Sports Palace. Yelena Lebedenko set a personal record and for the first time in her career became national champion. Her score of 4735 points was the best in the world that year for women's indoor pentathlon.
The Russian 24-Hour Run Indoor Championships was held on 10–11 February in Podolsk on the 133-meter circle of the arena of the local youth sports school. Competitions were held as part of the Podolsk Day super marathon and were held in memory of Nikolay Safin, who had established here the highest world achievement three years earlier (275,576 m). Elena Sidorenkova set a world record distance of 248,901 m in the women's race. However, this result (like Safin's record) was not ratified by the international association due to the uncertified track length and the lack of strict documentation of the circles passed by the participants.