To determine the HLA-DRB1 04 and HLA-DQB1 03 variants associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among Russians who live in West Siberia, we studied patients with RA using the polymerase chain reaction and dot-blot hybridization with oligonucleotide probes. A significant increase was seen only for DRB1 0404/08, although the predominant variant in DR4+ RA patients was DRB1 0401. We found no significant difference in the DQB1 03 variants in RA cases when compared with controls. The results suggest that in the Russian-Siberian population RA is primarily associated with several DRB1 04 variants that share sequence identity in the third hypervariable region.