GOLITSYN, VASILY VASILEVICH (1643-1714), Russian statesman, spent his early days at the court of Tsar Alexius where he gradually rose to the rank of boyar. In 1676 he was sent to the Ukraine to keep in order the Crimean Tatars and took part in the Chigirin campaign. The revolution of May 1682 placed Golitsyn at the head of the Posolsky Prikaz, or Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and during the regency of Sophia, sister of Peter the Great, whose lover he became, he was the principal minister of State and "keeper of the great seal." His foreign policy was distinguished by the peace with Poland in 1683, whereby Russia recovered Kiev. By the terms of the same treaty, he acceded to the grand league against the Porte, but his two expeditions against the Crimea (1687 and 1689), "the First Crimean War," were unsuccessful and made him extremely unpopular. In the civil war between Sophia and Peter (Aug.—Sept. 1689), Golitsyn half-heartedly supported his mistress, and shared her ruin. He was banished successively to Kargopol, Mezen and Kologora, where he died on Apr. 21, 1714. Golitsyn was unusually well educated. He understood German and Greek, and could express himself fluently in Latin. He was a great friend of foreigners, who generally alluded to him as "the great Golitsyn." See R. N. Bain, The First Romanovs (19o5) ; A. Bruckner, Fiirst Golizin (Leipzig, 1887) ; S. Soloveiv, History of Russia (Rus.), vols. xiii.—r_iv. (Moscow, 1858, etc.) .