Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny

Who is Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny?

Samiilo Bohdanovych-Zarudny was a Cossack diplomat, noble and general judge of the Zaporozhian Host, who defected to Bohdan Khmelnytsky's side at Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi in 1648.

Bohdanovych-Zarudny played key roles in the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654 which began when he conducted negotiations in Warsaw in 1650, and subsequently headed the Kozak delegations to Moscow and Turkey. In 1657 Bohdanovych-Zarudny traveled to Transylvania to once again initiate negotiations towards another treaty. This eventually led to the 1658 signing, with Poland, of the Treaty of Hadiach.

Following the decline of Ivan Vyhovsky, Bohdanovych-Zarudny joined Yurii Khmelnytsky where he participated in drafting the Treaty of Slobodyshche.

In 1664, Bohdanovych-Zarudny fought, alongside the Polish, against Ivan Briukhovetsky who eventually signed the Moscow Articles of 1665, effectively placing Ukraine under the direct rule of the Tsar, and thereby ending Ukraine's independence and autonomy.