The Russian Prince and Saint Alexander Nevsky (ca.1220-1263) was voted the most important historical figure with which today's Russia associates itself.

Nevsky was picked in a national voting campaign called "Russia's Name" ("Historical Choice-2008"), in which more than 524 000 Russians submitted their vote. The results of the voting were announced Sunday on the national TV channel.

The USSR dictator Joseph Stalin was ranked third preceded by the country's reformist Prime Minister in 1906-1911 Pyotr Stolypin.

The poet Alexander Pushkin remained fourth, followed by the writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Tsar Pyotr I, Vladimir Lenin, the general Alexander Suvorov, the Empress Catherine II, Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and Tsar Alexander II the Liberator.

The Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir Alexander Nevsky was a key figure in defending Russia and the Orthodoxy from foreign invasion in the 13th century.

In 1240 he defeated the Swedes in the Battle of Neva, and in 1242 he defeated the invading Teutonic Knights at the Battle of the Ice.

Bulgaria's largest cathedral famous for its golden domes and location in downtown Sofia is named after St. Alexander Nevsky.

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