Relationships between Russia and the Left-Bank Cossak Hetmanate and the conclusion of the Treaty of Bakhchisarai

Abstract

Peace talks between Russia, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean khanate in the late 1670s – early 1680s were long and troublesome. The role of the hetman Ivan Samojlovich in the formation of the Russian conditions of the future peace treaty and the political demands made of the Sublime Porte and Crimea during the negotiations still remains unclear. This article explores the level and scale of participation of the hetman Ivan Samojlovich in the preparation of the second Russian diplomatic mission to Crimea, headed by Ivan Sukhotin, in the Autumn of 1679, as well as the contacts between Moscow and the Ukrainian hetman connected with preparations for the third one, headed by stolnik Vasilij Tyapkin and djak Nikita Zotov. Mikhail Golovin, the tsar’s stolnik was sent to Samojlovich to discuss and coordinate the limits of possible territory concessions in favor of the Porte and Crimea in the Right-Bank Ukraine. The result of the consultations was the Russian-Ukrainian agreement on the possible total concession of the Right-Bank Ukraine (excluding Kiev) if peace on other conditions would be impossible. Hence, the decision about territory conditions of the Russian-Crimean treaty, which was concluded in Bakhchysarai in 1681, was a result of common position of the Russian government and the hetman Ivan Samojlovich.