Repnikov was born on December 29th 1932 in the Perm Region.In 1953 he finished his studies at the Music School in Irkutsk and in 1958 he graduated from the conservatorium of Leningrad, at the theoretical composition faculty.
In 1947 - 1949 and in 1951 - 1952 he was accompanist in a club of accordeonists in the Amur Region and Irkutsk.
In 1959 he became teacher in the children accordeon music school of the Lenin District in Leningrad. From 1960 to 1970 he was teacher in the accordeon class at the Leningrad Institute of Culture.
From 1971 to 1974 he was teacher on bayan, accordeon and instrumentation course at the Leningrad Music School M.P. Mussorgsky. Since 1974 he was lecturer composition. From 1982 he was associate professor at the Leningrad Conservatory in Petrozavodsk.