Fate turned out to be cruel to the Moscow prince Vasily II Vasilyevich (1425-1462). He entered Russian history with the nickname Dark, which means Blind: subjected to cruel execution by his cousins back in 1446, he ruled the country for sixteen years being blind and crippled - and yet managed to retain power in his hands and even personally led the army on campaigns. But Vasily himself showed no less cruelty and treachery during the bloody civil strife that struck Rus' in the second quarter of the 15th century, so it was no coincidence that one of his contemporaries called him “Judas” and “murderer.” The author of the book, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Nikolai Sergeevich Borisov, based on all the sources at our disposal, paints for the reader a complex and diverse picture of the life of the Moscow state of that time and recreates a full of contradictions portrait of this controversial ruler, the father of the future “sovereign of all Rus'” Ivan III .