Vasily Ivanovich Gnedov, better known by the pen name Vasilisk Gnedov, was one of the most radically experimental poets of Russian Futurism, though not as prolific as his peers.
Vasily Pavlovich Aksyonov was a Soviet and Russian novelist. He became known in the West as the author of The Burn and of Generations of Winter, a family saga following three generations of the Gradov family between 1925 and 1953.
Vasily Sergeyevich Arkhipov was an officer in the tank troops of the Red Army who was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions in the Winter War and World War II. He rose to the rank of colonel general during the Cold War.
Vasily Nikolayevich Azhayev was a Soviet and Russian writer, best known as the author of the novel Daleko ot Moskvy, which served as the basis for several eponymous film, stage and TV adaptations, and an opera.
Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold, who published in the West under his German baptism name, Wilhelm Barthold, was a Russian orientalist who specialized in the history of Islam and the Turkic peoples (Turkology).
Vasily Ivanovich Belov was a Soviet and Russian writer, poet and dramatist, who published more than sixty books which sold seven million copies. A prominent member of the influential 1970s–1980s derevenschiki movement, Belov's best known novels include Business as Usual, Eves, Everything's Ahead and The Year of a Major Breakdown.