False Dmitriy I
Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan IV Vasilyevich was present at the bear hunts at the age of 13. False Dmitriy I was especially keen on bear hunting. A legend describes the miraculous salvation of Tsar Alexis of Russia from a bear by Saint Sava. After 1650/51 the bear hunts of Tsars became rare. In 2007 Russia proposed to allow polar bear hunting by the Chukchi people, for the first time since the Soviet Union banned hunting the dwindling species in 1956.