Panin Nikita Biography

Father: Ivan Vasilievich Panin. Count, Russian statesman and diplomat. One of the closest associates of Catherine II, headed the foreign affairs collegium - putting forward the project to create the so -called Northern System, signed the St. Petersburg Union Treaty with Prussia, concluded an agreement with Denmark, a trade agreement with Great Britain Nikita Ivanovich Panin was born on September 18.

His father, Ivan Vasilievich, gave his life to military service and resigned as a general general. The Panin Sr. enjoyed the location of Peter I, but did not belong to his closest associates, although he was married to the niece of the famous Prince Menshikov, Agrafena Vasilievna Everlakova. Ivan Vasilievich gave his four children an excellent education. Thanks to kinship with Menshikov, Nikita Panin was presented by the child to the Higher St.

Petersburg society, including Grand Duchess Elizabeth Petrovna. Panin served from the lowest ranks in the privileged horse guard regiment. In the year, from the Horse Guards Vakhmisters he was transferred to cornets. Panin was among those guards who helped Elizabeth ascend to the throne, he was granted to the chamber junkers and began to acquire some influence at the court. After the empress drew attention to him, the favorite of Elizabeth Count Shuvalov clogged the alarm.

Young Panin was urgently sent by a messenger to Denmark. In Denmark, Nikita Ivanovich did not stay long. In the year, the Swedish king demanded to withdraw from Stockholm the Russian envoy to I. Swedish affairs in St. Petersburg at that time attached very great importance. Therefore, the decision of the Chancellor A. Bestuzhev-Ryumin to send a talented but inexperienced Panin to Stockholm was unexpected.

In Stockholm, Nikita Ivanovich lived for twelve years. He was the remote to prevent the breaking up of diplomatic relations with Sweden by signing the Russian-Swedish Declaration on the readiness of both powers to protect trade navigation in the Baltic Sea and impede the appearance of the British navy in the Baltic. In November, its imperial majesty commanded its plenipotentiary minister at the Swedish court, chamberlain and general general, Nikit Panin, to temporarily leave Stockholm on the occasion of the appointment of him as the teacher and Obert Hofmeister Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.

At the court, Panin quickly became a significant person. He was called "the most dignified noble of the empire." He had a rare ability to have people to himself, so he had many friends and few enemies. He was known as a skilled diplomat and a very educated person. Panin lived in Europe for a long time and knew European culture well, and there were few such people in Russia at that time, and they were appreciated.

During the period of the short reign of Peter III, Panin advocated the removal of the emperor from the authorities, referring to the regency of Ekaterina Alekseevna until the age of his pupil, and for the restriction of the monarch of power. Peter III did not trust Nikita Ivanovich even kept his adjutant outbuilding with him, although he granted the rank of real secret adviser and the Order of St.

Andrew the First-Called. In the June coup of the year, Panin took an active part. Catherine II awarded him for the services of an annual pension of 5 thousand rubles. At first, Panin was only an unofficial adviser to the imperialist on foreign policy, and he had to withstand strong competition with his old friend A. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, foreign ambassadors informed his governments about the intrigues of A.

Bestuzhev Ryumin and G. Orlov against Panin, who even expressed a desire to move away. However, it was Panin on October 4 of the year that became a senior member of the foreign board; In October, after the final removal from Bestuzhev’s grandfather, the establishment of the Board of College went to him. Not being officially appointed chancellor, he was put, in fact, above the Vice-Chancellor of Prince D.

Golitsyn and for almost two decades remained the chief adviser to Catherine II and the head of Russian foreign policy. When Panin took office as a senior member of the College of Foreign Affairs, this institution was relatively small. It was listed in it near employees, of which 25 were in Moscow. Panin knew his “personnel” very well, appreciated and, perhaps, was even proud of them.

In St. Petersburg, foreign policy issues under the panin were resolved according to the debugged scheme. Nikita Ivanovich received correspondence from abroad and carefully studied it. Having taken away the most important, he wrote his comments and sentences in the fields and sent all this to the empress. Catherine looked through the paper and immediately claimed.

Then, the college compiled a rescript for sending an ambassador or other official documents that the empress approved in the same order. Sometimes Panin “to win the time” of secondary paper for approval by the Empress did not send. The empress conducted diplomatic correspondence or negotiations in agreement with Panin. This was done in cases where its direct participation was beneficial from a political point of view.Most of her “personal” letters to foreign sovereigns were prepared at the College of Foreign Affairs under the leadership of Nikita Ivanovich.

This procedure for conducting foreign policy affairs has been preserved for quite some time. Even the creation of the State Council in the year of the State Council did not make any special changes to it, because his recommendations on political issues were ultimately determined by the opinion of Panin and his preliminary agreement with Catherine. True, sometimes the empress and her “Minister of Foreign Affairs” disagreed on essential issues.

In such cases, Nikita Ivanovich often openly expressed his discontent. For example, he could not come to the court for a long time or, having said to be sick, defiantly travel around the city, and send all the sent papers back with the inscription "Mr. Vice-Chancellor." Since the year, Panin, in addition to the Foreign Collegium, also led a secret office, which was investigating the most serious crimes, including counterintelligence issues.

Having taken a foreign policy into his own hands, Nikita Ivanovich quickly became her not only a formal, but also the actual leader. Development of foreign policy - studying the situation, pondering further steps, preparing detailed instructions for Russian representatives abroad - all this was concentrated in the hands of Panin. First of all, he had to solve the Polish issue.

After the death of Augustus III, Catherine in the instructions to her agents set the task - to achieve the election of the Polish throne of Stanislav Ponatovsky, the king, "the interests of the useful empire, which, besides us, could not have any hope in achieving this dignity." Events in Poland developed favorably for Russia. After the Sejm decided to nominate only Poles to the candidates, foreign ambassadors - French, Austrian, Spanish and Saxon - left Warsaw in protest.

Having received a message about this event, Catherine wrote to Panin a note: “Nikita Ivanovich! Congratulations to you with the king we did. This case is noisily multiplying my power of attorney to you, and even more unmistakable I were all you have taken; What I did not want to bypass to show you my pleasure, Russia achieved the election of its candidate to the Polish throne, and so that in Poland, calmness remained and other European powers took the event for granted.

It began to take shape, Panina, an external political system. It was based on the idea of ​​creating the Northern Union. Panin believed that “they guarantee themselves from interference in external strife by the author of this program, however, Baron J. Korf presented one Panin in February to Catherine the corresponding project about the Northern Union. Panin appreciated these ideas, adopted and since then the concept of the Northern Union of the Northern System was associated mainly with its name.

The project features the concepts of the powers of “active” and “passive” from the “passive” were supposed to be content with their neutrality. Panin was the first to attribute Russia, Dnglius, Prussia, partly Denmark; “Passive” meant Poland, Sweden and other countries that managed to attract to the Union. Nikita Ivanovich Panin hoped with the help of the northern system to strengthen the influence of Russia in the Commonwealth and Sweden, as well as in Turkey to transfer to the allies part of the expenses to combat French influences in these countries.

Using the words of Panin himself, it was necessary “once forever the system to get Russia out of constant dependence to put it in the method of the general Northern Union to such an extent that it, as in general matters, have a noble part of the leadership, so specially could keep silence and peace to the north”. In St. Petersburg they realized that it was unrealistic to fully carry out for the thought.

But thanks to the idea of ​​the Northern Union, the foreign policy of Russia acquired a programmatic nature. The actions taken in certain countries were tied into a single whole. The first serious step in creating the northern system can be considered the conclusion of the Union Treaty between Russia Prussia in the year. In St. Petersburg, his requests were favorably treated, although Panin deliberately postponed the conclusion of the agreement, trying to get from the king more and more concessions.

At the end, when Russia required the active participation of the Prussia of Polish affairs, the contract was signed. The Union with Prussia allowed St. Petersburg to influence Polish affairs, restrained Turkey, "exciting in the north" and "play the first role in Europe, negotiations with Denmark were relatively easy for Panin. Nikita Ivanovich insisted that Denmark take the obligations to help Russia against Turkey and counteract French influence in Sweden in secret articles.

In return, Denmark received the Holstein possessions of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich. In February, the contract was signed. Then Panin took energetic steps to persuade the London cabinet to sign the Union Agreement.But he managed to conclude only a trade agreement in England now connected with Russia and wider political considerations, since they had a common enemy - France.

To stop the successful activities of Russian diplomacy, Austria and France resorted to the assistance of Turkey. As a result of the cunning intrigues of the Austrian and French ambassadors, Türkiye at the end of the year declared war on Russia. Friendly relations with Prussia, Denmark and England, that is, that part of the northern system that managed to create by the beginning of the war, allowed Panin not to worry about the northern borders and completely focus on the Turkish problem.

Already in the year, under the impression of the defeats incurred, Türkiye turned to Prussia and Austria with a request for mediation in peace negotiations with Russia. In St. Petersburg they wanted to end the war as soon as possible. For the successful end of the war, the efforts were required not only by the military, but to no less diplomatic.