Hussars were first recorded in Russia as groups of irregulars in the mid-17th century. Under Peter I, this class of light cavalry began to serve as organized regiments on a semi-permanent basis in 1723 based on Serbian Hussars out of the Habsburg monarchy. Hussar regiments remained a conscious element of the Imperial Russian Army until the Revolution of 1917 when they were finally disbanded.

The hussar regiment was a formation (military unit, regiment) of the light cavalry of the Army of the Russian Kingdom and the Russian Imperial Army of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom and the Empire.

The regiments of this type of weapon were intended for reconnaissance, raiding, sentry and liaison services. In the campaign, the subunits of the hussar regiment invariably were part of the vanguard and rearguard, hiding the movement of the main troops of the active formation, conducting reconnaissance of the enemy's actions. And in combat, fighting or battle, they were entrusted with pursuing the retreating (fleeing) enemy, and if their troops failed, to cover the withdrawal of the main troops. Hussar regiments were indispensable for actions on enemy lines of communication in the "parties".

In Russia, the hussar formations (companies) as the troops of the "New (Foreign) System" are mentioned in 1634. By 1654, these companies were deployed into a regiment under the command of Colonel Christopher Rylsky. In the spring of 1654, Rylsky's hussar regiment solemnly leaves Moscow, but a year later it disappears from the documents. Probably, it did not justify itself and was transferred to the Reitar Order.

Our great sovereign, against his enemies of the state, gathers a host of many and uncountable, and the orders are different:
Many thousands of spear companies are organized in hussars;
The other many thousands of spear companies are organized in hussars, cavalry, with a fire fight, and in Reitar formation;
...
Then our great sovereign has a military structure.

— Description of the Russian Army, given to Cosimo Medici, in Florence, by the steward Ivan Chemodanov (ambassador in Venice), in 1656

In September 1660, the hussar companies were organized in the Novgorod Grade by Prince Ivan Khovansky. These companies showed themselves splendidly in the battles of the Russian–Polish War and in August 1661 they were deployed into a regiment, which received "hussar shafts" (spears) and armour from the Armoury. Gordon's diary speaks of three companies of hussars who participated in the Kozhukhov Campaign in 1694. The last mention of the hussars of this organization falls in 1701, when the hussars were recruited into the Novgorod Dragoon Regiment. There was also the Consolidated Lance–Reitar–Hussar Regiment of the steward and Colonel Yakov Chelishchev. In 1701, this consolidated formation operated in the area of the Pechersky Monastery "to save the district peasants of the Pskov Uyezd", later it was reorganized into a garrison dragoon regiment, and in the period from 1713 to 1715 was in Smolensk.

Russian hussars, led in 1654 by Colonel Christopher Rylsky, wore wings. The Armoury has preserved Russian hussar armour of the 17th century. Russian hussars could also be supplied with Reitar Armour. So, for example, Prince Khovansky did in 1661, when he did not have time to receive the hussar plate armour. As the prince wrote: "I have accepted 360 plates in the regiment. Of this number, 91 plates were given to the hussar, while by your (royal) decree, hussar armor will be sent to me, and the remaining 269 plates were given to the regiment of Colonel Davyd Zybin to the reitars... And hussar armor and shishaks did not come to my regiment in July until the 7th, and a hussar cannot be without armor and shishaks and without handcuffs". Three units of hussars are recorded as having participated in the 1694 Kozhuhovskaya campaign. The last mention of these irregulars is recorded in 1701, when they were transferred to newly raised Novgorod Dragoon Regiment of regular cavalry.