Sophia Alekseyevna (17 September (27), 1657 – 3 July (14), 1704) is a regent of Russia (1682–1689) who allies herself with a singularly capable courtier and politician, Prince Vasily Galitzine, to install herself as a regent during the minority of her brothers, Peter I and Ivan V. Her reign is carried out with a firm and heavy fist; she does not hesitate to utilize violent tactics to promote her agenda.

The activity of this "bogatyr-tsarevna" (as Sergey Solovyov called her) is all the more extraordinary, as upper-class Muscovite women, confined to the upper-floor terem and veiled and guarded in public, invariably are kept aloof from any open involvement in politics.

Sophia was the thirteenth daughter of Tsar Alexis I of Russia by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya,educated by Simeon Polotsky according to tradition.

After the death of her reigning brother Fyodor Alekseyevich on 27 April 1682, Sophia unexpectedly enterd Russian politics, trying to preclude her young half-brother, the 10-year old Peter Alekseyevich, and his Naryshkin relatives, from inheriting the throne.