Hopes in Russia and a Second Turnovo Uprising (1868): From the middle of the 17th century onwards, Russia became an important power in the international arena. The greatest and only free centre of the Eastern Orthodox faith, this country was naturally considered as the protector of the enslaved Christian peoples in the Ottoman Empire. Her glory as a Christian protector was also enhanced by her victories over the Tartars. Russia' s entry into the Holy Alliance, directed against the Ottoman Empire, still further nurtured the hopes of the Bulgarian people in her liberating mission. These hopes were pathetically reflected in the national epic poems and in the legends about 'Dyado (Grand-father) Ivan', the personification of that great country.
After the defeat of the Ottoman forces at the siege of Vienna, in 1683 a conspiracy was organized in Turnovo. Its organizers sought a link with Russia and succeeded in winning the compassion of the Moscow Patriarch. However, the conspiracy was discovered in 1686, and Ottoman forces set out for the last capital of the Bulgarians, the cradle of a number of uprisings. The heroic resistance of the people of Turnovo was crushed, but the wave of rebellion also spread to a number of towns and villages in the foothills of the Balkan Range.
Source: www.balcanica.org