Golitsyn, Vasily, Prince

Golitsyn, Vasily (Vasilyevich), Prince

(born 1643, Russia—died May 2, 1714, Kholmogory, Russia) Russian statesman and chief adviser to Sophia Alekseyevna. After commanding in the Ukraine, he served in the court of Fyodor III and reorganized the Russian army. When Sophia became regent in 1682, she appointed her lover Golitsyn head of the foreign office. He negotiated an alliance with Poland (1686) against the Ottoman Turks but failed in his two campaigns against the Turks (1687, 1689). He also concluded the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China. In 1689 he was exiled to Siberia after a coup displaced Sophia and placed Peter I on the throne.