Vasili IV of Russia in the context of Polish–Russian War (1609–1618)

Vasili, Vasily, Vasilii or Vasiliy (Russian: Василий) is a Russian masculine given name of Greek origin and corresponds to Basil. It may refer to:

• Vasily I of Moscow Grand Prince from 1389–1425
• Vasily II of Moscow Grand Prince from 1425–1462
• Vasili III of Russia Grand Prince from 1505–1533
• Vasili IV of Russia Tsar from 1606–1610
• Basil Fool for Christ (1469–1557), also known as Saint Basil, or Vasily Blazhenny
• Vasily Alekseyev (1942–2011), Soviet weightlifter
• Vasily Arkhipov (1926–1998), Soviet Naval officer in the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Vasily Boldyrev (1875–1933), Russian general
• Vasily Chapayev (1887–1969), Russian Army commander
• Vasily Chuikov (1900–1982), Soviet marshal
• Vasily Degtyaryov (1880–1949), Russian weapons designer and Major General
• Vasily Dzhugashvili (1921–1962), Stalin's son
• Vasili Golovachov (born 1948), Russian science fiction author
• Vasily Grossman (1905–1964), Soviet writer and journalist
• Vasily Ignatenko (1961–1986), Soviet firefighter in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster
• Vasilii Alekseevich Iskovskikh (1939–2009), Russian mathematician
• Vasily Kuznetsov (1901–1990), Soviet politician, acted three times as head of state of USSR
• Vasyl Ivanchuk (born 1969), Ukrainian chess grandmaster
• Wassily Kandinsky (Vasily Kandinsky; 1866–1944), Russian painter and art theorist.
• Vasily Karatygin (1802–1880), Russian actor
• Vasily Lanovoy (1934–2021), Russian actor
• Vasily Livanov (born 1935), Russian actor and screenwriter
• Vasily Lobanov (born 1947), Russian composer and pianist
• Vasyl Lomachenko (Vasily Lomachenko; born 1988), Ukrainian boxer
• Vasily Markovich (born 1955), Belarusian politician
• Vasily Nezabitovsky (1824–1883), Ukrainian jurist
• Vasily Petrenko (born 1976), Russian conductor
• Vasily Podkolzin (born 2001), Russian ice hockey player currently playing for the Vancouver Canucks
• Vasily Seseman (1884–1963), Russian and Lithuanian philosopher
• Vasily Smyslov (1921–2010), Soviet chess player
• Vasily Tsibliyev (born 1954), Russian cosmonaut
• Vasily Zaytsev, Soviet sniper
• Vasily Zakharov (1934–2023), Soviet culture minister
• Vasily Zhdanov (born 1963), Soviet cyclist

The Polish–Russian War was a conflict fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia from 1609 to 1618.

Russia had been experiencing the Time of Troubles since the death of Tsar Feodor I in 1598, which caused political instability and a violent succession crisis upon the extinction of the Rurik dynasty; furthermore, a major famine ravaged the country from 1601 to 1603. Poland exploited Russia's civil wars when powerful members of the Polish szlachta began influencing Russian boyars and supporting successive pretenders to the title of tsar of Russia against the crowned tsars Boris Godunov (r. 1598–1605) and Vasili IV Shuysky (r. 1606–1610). From 1605, Polish nobles conducted a series of skirmishes until the death of False Dmitry I in 1606, and they invaded again in 1607 until Russia formed a military alliance with Sweden two years later. The King of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa, declared war on Russia in response in 1609, aiming to gain territorial concessions and to weaken Sweden's ally. Polish forces won many early victories such as the 1610 Battle of Klushino. In 1610, Polish units entered Moscow and Sweden withdrew from the military alliance with Russia, instead triggering the Ingrian War of 1610-1617 between Sweden and Russia.