Anna of Russia Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (; – ), also spelled Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, was regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Anna was born in Moscow as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V by his wife Praskovia Saltykova. Ivan V was co-ruler of Russia along with his younger half-brother Peter the Great, but he was mentally disabled and incapable of administering the country, and Peter effectively ruled alone. Ivan V died in February 1696, when Anna was only three years old, and
Tsarevna Praskovya Ivanovna of Russia Tsarevna Praskovya Ivanovna of Russia Praskovya Ivanovna (1694–1731) was a Russian tsarevna, daughter of Tsar Ivan V of Russia and Praskovia Saltykova. She was the niece of Tsar Peter the Great and the sister of Empress Anna Ivanovna. Praskovya's father died in 1696 and she was raised with her sisters, Catherine and Anna, at the estate awarded to her mother by Tsar Peter, Izmaylovo Estate in Moscow. She was tutored in literature and the sciences by German teachers. Praskovya was described by the Spanish ambassador in comparison to her sisters as lacking in intelligence, in addition to being very sickly.