Vasily Kochubey
Василий Леонтьевич Кочубей Василь Леонтiйович Кочубей
Born	1640
Died	15 July 1708 Borshchahivka
Cause of death	Beheading
Resting place	Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

Vasily Leontiyevich Kochubey (Russian: Василий Леонтьевич Кочубей, Ukrainian: Василь Леонтiйович Кочубей, romanized: Vasyl Leontiiovych Kochubei) (c. 1640 – 15 July 1708) was a statesman of the Cossack Hetmanate of Crimean Tatar descent. His tenure was characterized by Pro-Moscow policies and was cut short by his execution on Hetman Ivan Mazepa's orders. Kochubey's great-grandson was the eminent Imperial Statesman Viktor Kochubey. The family name is also spelled Kotchoubey (French) and Kotschoubey (German, Almanach de Gotha).

Biography

The grandson of the Crimean Tatar Kuchuk-bey, who left for Ukraine in the middle of XVII century and was baptized Andrey.

Until 1675  he was a military chancellor of Hetmans I. Briukhovetskyi and P. Doroshenko^[1]

1675   – P.Doroshenko'sEnvoy to Turkey.

1676   – Envoy of Archbishop Lazar Baranovych to Moscow,^[2]

1676 – 1681   – a military chancellor under I. Samoilovych.

1681 – 1687   – he was a regent of the General Military Chancellery (1681 ) underI. Samoilovych, and also was in charge of hetman’s diplomatic relations with moscow tsars^[3]

1687 – 1699   – Secretary General.

1700 – 1708   – General Judge.

Denunciation of Ivan Mazepa and execution

The first document accusing Hetman Ivan Mazepa in betrayal and Hetman's negotiations with Poland was submitted by V. Kochubeyto Moscow in August 1707 from Baturyn through Nykanor, the monk of the Sevskyi Savior Monastery, who was interrogated in Preobrazhenskyi Prykaz, but at that time the case was suspended. Then, on September 16, 1707, Nykanor reported on what he had heard from the Kochubeys topantler, Duke F. Romodanovskyi. However, Peter I have checked the materials of the oral denunciation only in December 1707 and even after that he did not take it into account and did not believe the denunciation.^[4]

The next informer from the judge general was Petro Yatsenko (Yakovlev). In January 1708, in Moscow he presented the main points of the denunciation to Tsarevych Oleksii, and accused Hetman Mazepa of having relations with Polish King Stanislaw Leszczynski and attempts to arrest Peter I. On 17 February 1708 the denunciation, written from the words of Kochubey and his relative Ivan Iskra was sent to Moscow by Okhtyrka Colonel Fedor Osypovwith the help of his clerk V. Kobeliatskyi. On March 1, 1708, Peter I wrote about the crime of Kochubey and Iskra to his bedchamber count Golovkin and secret secretary Shafirov, who were investigating the denunciation materials by his order. Mazepa was asked to arrest the informers.^[5]

On April 18, 1708, Kochubey and Ivan Iskra, certain of their rightness, went to Vitebsk, where at that time was the Tsar's Campaign Chancellery. Upon arrival, they were arrested and tortured. All the details of interrogation of the suspects were thoroughly recorded in the materials of the investigation case. On 6 May 1708 the arrested were sent from Vitebsk to Smolensk. Later, they were sent from Smolensk to Kyiv by ships along the Dnipro River. On 7 July 1708 they arrived to Kyiv-Pechersk Fortress^[4] By order of I. Mazepa the informers were transported to the hetman's,^[6] camp, which was then located near the town of Borshchahivka. On July 14, 1708, Kochubey and Iskra were beheaded in the hetman's convoy and buried in Borshchahivka. Later they were reburied on the territory of Kyiv-PecherskLavra near the Refectory Church where a memorial plaque was installed.^[7]

Family

• Father: Leontii Andriiovych Kochubey.
• Mother: unknown.
• Wife: Liubov Fedorivna Zhuchenko  – a daughter of Fedor Ivanovych Zhuchenko, Poltava Colonel.
• Sons:

Vasyl Vasyliovych Kochubey (1680–1743)  – Poltava Colonel (1727–1743)

Fedir Vasyliovych Kochubey (? – 1729)  – Bunchukovyi tovarysh.

• Daughters:

Hanna Vasylivna Kochubey (?  – ?)  – wifeof Ivan Pavlovych Obydovskyi, Nizhyn Colonel (1676 – 1701), nephew of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. Two sons were born in their family.

Mariia Vasylivna Kochubey (?  – ?)  – wife of Vasyl Stepanovych Zabila  - son of Nizhyn Colonel.

Motrya Vasylivna Kochubey (1688 – 1736) - was the beloved of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, whom he wanted to marry but did not obtain her father's consent. Later - she became a wife of Semen Chuikevych (born in 1674 )  – Nizhyn regimental judge.

Paraska Vasylivna Kochubey (?  -1726)  – wife of Bunchukovyi tovarysh FedirSulyma, brother of Semen Sulyma; 5 daughters were born in their family.

Memories

After the transition of Ivan Mazepa to the side of the Swedes, Kochubey was celebrated as a martyr for the truth and a hero in the Russian Empire. A monument to VasylKochubey and Ivan Iskra was erected in Kyiv in 1914, on the foundation of which a monument to the workers of the Arsenal plant has stood since 1923. The house, which belonged to Judge General VasylKochubey, has survived in Baturyn, Bakhmach district, Chernihiv oblast. It houses the museum of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve "Hetman's Capital".

References