Sophia Alekseyevna (Russian: Со́фья Алексе́евна; IPA: [ˈsofʲɪjə ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvnə]; 27 September [O.S. 17 September] 1657 – 14 July [O.S. 3 July] 1704) ruled as regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689. She allied herself with a singularly capable courtier and politician, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, to install herself during the minority of her brother Ivan V and half-brother Peter I. She carried out her regency with a firm and heavy hand, not hesitating to use violent tactics to promote her agenda. The activity of this "bogatyr-tsarevna" (as Sergey Solovyov called her) was all the more extraordinary, as upper-class Muscovite women, confined to the upper-floor terem and veiled and guarded in public, invariably were kept aloof from any open involvement in politics.

Sophia was the third surviving daughter of Tsar Alexis by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya. She was the only one of her sisters educated by Simeon Polotsky who also taught Tsar Alexis' heirs Tsarevich Alexei and Tsarevich Feodor. After the death of her brother, Tsar Feodor III, on 27 April 1682, Sophia unexpectedly entered Russian politics, trying to prevent her young half-brother, the 9-year old Peter Alekseyevich from bypassing her elder brother Tsarevich Ivan and inheriting the throne.

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