[PlasmaKrab]

As far as I know and am able to find right now, the first TI tank sights used on Russian tanks were made by Peleng (now as PO1-KO1 model) from Thomson (now Thales) Catherine-FC-series IR cameras and offered as an option on the T-90. That means no TI sights at all before

From what I used to hear at the time, the Catherine was selected because Russian/FSU makers were unable to come up with equivalent TI optics. I admit that this may be Thomson bragging or post-cold-war propaganda, but the fact that the Catherine version itself posed so many problems to the Indians and that they couldn't replace them with some Russian version substantiates that claim.

I'm not sure when the first Catherines were delivered, but for obvious political reasons I'd say not before 1990. It was a highlight of the export T-90 from the start, but actually the baseline T-90 uses the Buran AIR/LLTV derivate of the old TPN series.
On the other hand, the Indian Army is the only certified customer of the TI-equipped version, so I don't even know if Russia has ever used it.

So I'd place a conservative estimate at 1999 for Russia, and 1989-90 as the most optimistic date (first T-90 service date anyway), in small quantities. Retrofitted T-80UM(1) in 1995-97.
And of course no TI capability at all before 1990, same thing for non-Soviet ex-WP upgrades (PT-91, Moderna...) which also used foreign-supplied optics. If someone can prove otherwise, I'd like to know.