“Do not Intervene in Anything”: Russian Representatives in Istanbul (1700-1701)

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of establishing a permanent diplomatic mission of Peter I in the Sublime Porte. At the initiative of the envoy E. I. Ukraintsev, an article, enabling the tsar to send an ambassador for a permanent residence in Istanbul, was included in the Treaty of Constantinople (1700). After the envoy’s departure, only the Non-diplomatic ministers of the Ambassadorial prikaz (chancellery), namely translator S. F. Lavretsky, podyachy (clerk) Gr. Yudin (died in December 1700) and interpreter D. Petrov, stayed in the Ottoman capital. Translator S. Lavretsky became the head of the Russian diplomatic mission. In 1701, a messenger M. Larionov arrived in Istanbul with the tsar’s charter. According to it translator and podyachy had to stay in Istanbul until the arrival of the plenipotentiary ambassador with ratification. On the basis of the archival documents stored in the RGADA (Moscow), the author analyzes the activities of diplomatic missions in 1700-1701. The main task of the translator and the ambassador was to inform the Russian government about the political situation in the Ottoman Empire. Peter I sent the main forces of his state to the war with the Swedes, so he needed peace on the southern borders. The translator and podyachy maintained contact with ministers of the Sublime Porte, the Jerusalem Patriarch, agents, etc. They also monitored the preparation of the Sublime Porte for the arrival of the Russian plenipotentiary ambassador. Information collected from various sources regarding the situation in Istanbul, Crimea and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, as well as Western Europe, they sent to the Ambassadorial prikaz. The activities of Russian diplomats in 1700-1701 largely corresponded to the functions of the ambassadorial secretary (charge d’affaires).