Samoilovich, Ivan

Samoilovich, Ivan Samoilovich 

Year of birth unknown; born in the village of Khodorkovo, now in Popil’nia Raion, Zhitomir Oblast; died 1690 in the city of Tobol’sk. Ukrainian military leader and statesman. Son of a priest.

Samoilovich served as colonel of the Chernigov Regiment and justice general from 1669 to 1672. He was hetman of the Left-bank Ukraine from 1672 to 1687. His domestic policy was aimed at expanding the privileges and rights of the cossack elite. In his foreign policy he strove to unite the Left-bank and Right-bank Ukraine under Russian rule. He waged a long struggle against the hetman of the Right-bank Ukraine, P. Doroshenko, a henchman of Turkey. In 1674, Samoilovich was proclaimed hetman of the Right-bank Ukraine as well. He commanded the Ukrainian troops in the Chigirin campaigns of 1677–78 and in Prince V. V. Golitsyn’s Crimean campaign in 1687. That same year he was accused of treason by General Esaul I. S. Mazepa, was arrested, and was exiled to Tobol’sk, where he died.