A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich and His Projects for Revival of Zaporozhye Cossacks under the Auspices of the White Movement

Full text / tables, figures

Introduction

Relevance. The attitude of various representatives of the White movement to the Ukrainian issue is a fairly popular subject of research, but many aspects of it have not yet received due coverage. One of such poorly studied issues is the activity of Colonel Alexander Alexandrovich Sakhno-Ustimovich (1880–1973), who proposed projects for the revival of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to various White generals, as well as his attempt to create an Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood in Crimea under Wrangel, which was supposed to become not only the core of a future military organization, but also a kind of religious order.

Elaboration of the problem. Sakhno-Ustimovich's projects are mentioned in a number of studies^[1], but their authors rely on the memoirs of Lieutenant General Ya.A. Slashchev, rather than on the documents of the brotherhood stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. Sakhno-Ustimovich's biography was examined by some Ukrainian authors, but many of these works contain gross errors (for example, Alexander is often confused with his brother Vasily)^[2]. Only in the article by Ya.A. Tinchenko published in 2020 some of these errors were corrected, but it does not contain any new information about Sakhno-Ustimovich's projects in Crimea under Wrangel either^[3]. We also note a very interesting assessment of V.S. Sekachev, who considered Sakhno-Ustimovich's project as an attempt to reconcile Russians and Ukrainians on a religious basis and to revive Rus’ “by returning the people to their true ideals – Holy Orthodoxy.”^[4]

The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the activities of Sakhno-Ustimovich to revive the Zaporozhian Cossacks.

The source base of the research is primarily the unpublished documents of the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (F.R-422). In addition, there were used materials from six more Russian, Ukrainian and American archives (the State Archive of the Russian Federation – collections R-7030 (the Russian Foreign Historical Archive), R-7440 (G.E. Yanushevsky), R-6217 (the Collection of materials of the Wrangel government during its stay in Crimea); the Russian State Military Historical Archive – collection 409 (Service records, certifications and award sheets of officers of the Russian army); the Central State Archive of the Supreme Bodies of Authority and Administration of Ukraine – collections 1074 (the Ministry of Military Affairs of the Ukrainian State) and 3696 (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian People's Republic); the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine, Kiev – collection 1219 (Skoropadsky); the State Archive of Odessa Oblast – collection 153 (I.A. Linnichenko); the Bakhmetevsky Archive of Russian and Eastern European Culture – collection of Yu.K. Sakhno-Ustimovich; the Archive of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace – collections of P.N. Wrangel and E.K. Miller), as well as memoirs of contemporaries (N.A. Raevsky, V.F. Romanov, Ya.A. Slashchev, G.I. Vergunsky, etc.), articles of the émigré periodical press (“Novoye Vremya,” “Ukrainska Tribuna,” “Izvestia vysshego monarkhicheskogo soveta”).

A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich’s background and his activities until 1920

A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich was born on November 23, 1880 in the village of Kurinka, Lokhvitsky uyezd, Poltava province, to a family of hereditary nobility. His family descended from sotnik Sofony (Sakhno) who, according to the family legend, was killed near Chigirin in 1678. However, sometimes a certain Sakhno, an associate of Hetman Pavlyuk executed in Warsaw in 1638 was also considered one of the ancestors of the Sakhno-Ustimovichs. One of the members of the family who lived at the beginning of the XVIII century was married to the grandniece of Hetman D.P. Apostol. Alexander's father, Major General Alexander Vasilyevich Sakhno-Ustimovich served first in the Terek and then in the Kuban Cossack Host. His mother, Ulyana Stepanovna, was the daughter of the leader of the nobility of the Lokhvitsky uyezd, Poltava province. There were several more children in the family: Alexander (1868–1879), Vasily (1870–1925), Alexey (1873–1964), Elena, Ulyana^[5].

The history of the family and the place of birth had a great influence on Alexander’s worldview. “From childhood, Sakhno-Ustimovich cherished the dream of the revival of Ukraine on its historical traditions, with its hoary Cossack antiquity,”^[6] one of the Kiev magazines later wrote. Sakhno-Ustimovich was educated in the Vladimir Kiev Cadet Corps. At the end of August 1899, he was enrolled in the Konstantinovsky Artillery School; in September 1900 he was promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer; in May 1901 he became a senior cadet. Upon completion of the full course of study in August 1901, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in the 5th Artillery Brigade located in Zhitomir^[7]. In June 1909, Sakhno-Ustimovich was transferred to the 1st Terek Cossack Horse Artillery Battery and in October 1910 to the headquarters of the Kiev Military District, where he was enrolled in the army cavalry and was promoted to the rank of staff rittmeister^[8]. Despite his transfer to Kiev, he was still listed as a Cossack of the Terek Army in the Goryachevodskaya village of the Pyatigorsk department. In July 1914, he was appointed adjutant to the Chief of the Kiev Military District, and in December 1916 he was promoted to the rank of captain^[9].

After the February Revolution, Sakhno-Ustimovich took part in the ukrainization of the army and was elected deputy chairman of the meeting of Ukrainian soldiers of the Kiev garrison^[10]. Sakhno-Ustimovich claimed that he was the head of the Kiev garrison Ukrainian assembly and a member of the presidium of the Ukrainian Military Club named after Hetman Pavlo Polubotok^[11]. In May 1917, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and in July he was appointed a member of the 15th additional maintenance commission. From November 1917, he was a staff officer under the control of the commander of the Kiev Military District, and from January 1918 he served in the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, holding the positions of senior chief of the Main Directorate for maintenance and chief of the Maintenance Department^[12].

According to P.P. Skoropadsky, Sakhno-Ustimovich was also involved in organizing the “Free Cossacks” – volunteer paramilitary formations in Poltava region^[13]. Sakhno-Ustimovich wrote that Yu. E. Kapkan, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian anti-Bolshevik front had appointed him the organizer of the “Free Cossacks” in Left-Bank Ukraine, and the Cossack Rada had elected him commander of Cossack camp for Poltava and Chernigov provinces. He later recalled:

In 1918, together with M. Gizhitsky and E. Konoshenko, he was the initiator of the establishment of the hetmanate, one of the organizers of the “Ukrainian People's Community” party. In the same year, he organized a military force in Kiev and after assuming command of it, he carried out the coup which established hetman power in Ukraine^[14].

Indeed, Sakhno-Ustimovich joined the Ukrainian People’s Community (UNC) headed by his relative N.N. Sakhno-Ustimovich, an organization that expressed the interests of landowners and aimed to remove the socialist Central Rada from power. In mid-April 1918, Sakhno-Ustimovich received an order from Skoropadsky to find officers for carrying out a coup, and while seizing power, he led one of the detachments intended to “seize individuals and institutions.”^[15] Literary scholar N.A. Raevsky who was a participant in the events recalled:

Several times vigorous A. Sakhno-Ustimovich appeared and disappeared in the palace <…>. It seemed that he was one of the main, if not inspirers, then executors of the coup. All the time he rushed around the city in a car, he arrested the figures of the “old regime”, he was engaged in guard duties for the ministry, he encouraged people. He was also a sort of a treasurer^[16].

During one of his conversations with Raevsky, Sakhno-Ustimovich shared his dream that the hetman would restore the Zaporizhian Sich on Khortytsia Island^[17]. On Easter night, the hetman personally promoted Sakhno-Ustimovich to the rank of colonel and appointed him general osavul, that is, senior adjutant^[18].

In June 1918, the General Cossack Rada (GCR) was created under the Ministry of War, and Sakhno-Ustimovich was elected one of its members^[19]. Subsequently, he became a member of the General Cossack Rada presidium and headed the ataman cavalry sotnia. In October 1918, Skoropadsky issued a proclamation on the revival of the Cossacks, but the implementation of the project was prevented by the anti-hetman uprising^[20] (the Petliura army also actively used “Cossack” and “Zaporozhian” rhetoric, but reviving the Cossacks as an estate was out of the question). Sakhno-Ustimovich remained with the hetman until the last hours of the regime. While in exile, he read “The Days of the Turbins” by M.A. Bulgakov and told publicist E.A. Zhukov that Skoropadsky’s flight in the play was depicted correctly^[21]. After the capture of Kiev by the troops of the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Sakhno-Ustimovich remained in the city for about three weeks in hiding. “There were so many people with the surname Ustimovich serving under the hetman that any of them could face merciless reprisals by the Petliurites,” recalled Major General Yu.K. Sakhno-Ustimovich^[22]. Red Cross representative V.F. Romanov who saw Sakhno-Ustimovich at that time recalled:

He was absorbed in questions about God, he read and thought a lot on theological issues, his inquisitive searching, fervent faith in God's law and its importance for the correct construction of social relations were fascinating and helped him to distract from thoughts about the nasty things that the Petliurites were doing in Kiev...^[23]

In early 1919, Sakhno-Ustimovich who had moved to Odessa took part in the activities of the revived UNC and joined its Executive Committee^[24]. In historian I.A. Linnichenko’s archive there is an analytical note dedicated to the UNC. It was made in early 1919 by one of the leaders of the Community, probably by Sakhno-Ustimovich – at least, there were put forward the ideas that he would propose to the White leadership later. The author of the note remarked that “Ukrainian nationalism as a phenomenon of the Mazepa type was undoubtedly spread to the south of Russia by Germans and the Catholic Church,” but

in addition to “separate” nationalism cultivated by the Galician language and hatred of Russia, there is everyday nationalism, which is typical of a Saxon and a Bavarian, walking side by side in case of danger to Germany. In Little Russia this nationalism is even stronger, because the history of Little Russia knows many bright original pictures, and among the population of Little Russia there are thousands of hereditary Cossacks who preserved their own unique style and love of their native country^[25].

The author proposed to start organizing persons native to the region “with permission for them to employ terminology borrowed from the Little Russian vernacular in military use.” This army which was popular, but at the same time was based on the class principle was supposed to attract sympathy of the population, unlike volunteer detachments consisting exclusively of officers^[26].

This idea did not receive support, but Sakhno-Ustimovich did not abandon it even after the evacuation from Odessa to Yekaterinodar. In June 1919, he approached Lieutenant General A.G. Shkuro, the commander of the 3rd Kuban Corps with a proposal to organize Cossacks within Ukraine on “true historical principles.” Sakhno-Ustimovich recalled:

I supposed that such an organization in Ukraine was necessary as a counterweight to the socialist Uniate movement created by the Ukrainians of the new school. Finding the right expression for their feelings, the indigenous population of Ukraine that still have memories of the glorious past of the Cossacks will immediately understand the falsity of the aforementioned movement, and the destructive work of the new Ukrainians will definitively be paralyzed^[27].

Shkuro supported Sakhno-Ustimovich's project, and in early July 1919 he approached Don Ataman, Lieutenant General A.P. Bogaevsky with a proposal to strengthen the Cossacks by the population of Little Russia, primarily Poltava and Chernigov provinces, where the Cossack estate had been preserved until then and where “the legends of the hoary Cossack past were alive and there was the spirit of their valiant ancestors, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, glorious fighters for the Orthodox faith and for their Russian name.” In practical terms, it was proposed to form a special detachment called the “Zaporozhian camp of the Little Russian Cossack Host,” and if the idea of reviving the Little Russian Cossacks was directed along the “true historical and sound state path,” it was assumed that “'Ukrainism' as a false enemy deception will disappear from the horizon of Little Russia.” Shkuro noted that in the coming days he was planning to make a report on this issue to Lieutenant General A.I. Denikin, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia^[28].

On July 6, 1919, by his order based on Denikin’s consent, Shkuro imposed on Sakhno-Ustimovich the task of forming a “Camp of Zaporozhian Cossacks” in Yekaterinoslav and Poltava^[29]. According to the statements of Vasily Sakhno-Ustimovich, who also entered service in the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, Shkuro was to become the ataman of the revived army^[30]. This undertaking was not continued, since soon from the Headquarters there came a telegraph order of the Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General I.P. Romanovsky to cease forming “units of the Little Russian Cossacks.”^[31]

Attempt to recreate Zaporozhian Cossacks in Crimea under Wrangel and the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood

Another attempt to achieve his dream was made by Sakhno-Ustimovich in Crimea under Wrangel, where the colonel found himself after the retreat of the Whites. In the summer of 1920, he took part in the activities of the right-wing Ukrainian organizations in Crimea^[32], and joined the military commission dealing with the issue of forming Ukrainian units as part of the Russian Army^[33]. The meeting of the representatives of the Ukrainian organizations in Crimea asked Commander-in-Chief P.N. Wrangel to form a headquarters for rebel detachments on the territory of Ukraine and to include in it “Colonel Sakhno-Ustimovich who is in the civil administration” with pay^[34].

Initially, it was General Ya.A. Slashchev who supported Sakhno-Ustimovich’s initiatives; he got interested in the Ukrainian issue back in the spring of 1920. Petliurite L.E. Chikalenko who visited Crimea at the end of the summer of 1920 as a member of the the Ukrainian People’s Republic delegation recalled people who grouped around Slashchev as follows:

These were Ukrainians from the families of landowners and officials. <…> For these people, the revolution is first and foremost a rebellion of those “local”, semi-intelligent rural teachers, accountants, paramedics, telegraph operators, whom in the good times they would have never asked to table... The fact that such things were happening throughout the entire gigantic empire didn't come to their minds ‒ they saw, heard and lived with the hopes of the nearest outskirts, and therefore, under the hetman, burning with revenge, they joined the punitive detachments, and under Denikin they joined the police in order to take revenge, to take something away...^[35]

Social Democrat Chikalenko’s assessment is hardly related to Sakhno-Ustimovich who was guided not so much by selfish interests as by religious considerations and a childhood dream of reviving the times of the Cossacks. But the assessment of that Little Russian landowner environment to which he belonged was given correctly: these were people who hated socialists of all stripes, from the Bolsheviks to the Petliurites, and they were ready to recognize the more or less conservative regimes of Skoropadsky, Denikin, Wrangel regardless of what slogans, Ukrainian or all-Russian, they had. The social essence of the regime was more important to these people than the national “shell,” which depending on the circumstances they were ready to change.

On July 30, 1920, Sakhno-Ustimovich prepared a report for Wrangel, in which he proposed forming a “Camp of Zaporizhian Cossacks” “based on the legacy of the old Zaporizhian Sich,” which would meet “all the aspirations and cherished dreams of the true sons of Ukraine.” Sakhno-Ustimovich assumed that it would not only be a combat unit, but also a church-Orthodox brotherhood. The combat and political mission of the Camp was

invasion of Ukraine, replenishment of its forces with the loyal part of the population of Ukraine and raising a popular movement there in favor of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia^[36].

Most likely, the report was not immediately handed over to Wrangel after it was written.

On August 21, 1920, Sakhno-Ustimovich addressed a report to General Slashchev. He wrote as follows:

Our Motherland was created and has always been saved by the Orthodox faith, to which our ancestors firmly adhered. A particularly striking example of this is the history of Little Russia Ukraine. During the period of severe trials, at the call of the Holy Church, the Ukrainian Cossacks filled with religious fervor rose to defend their Faith and nation. The Zaporozhian Sich, which was a military-religious brotherhood, is an example of immortal valor and courage no enemy force could withstand the Cossacks who rose up for the faith of Christ^[37].

According to the colonel, it was impossible to gather people through mobilization, but it was possible to unite the rebels on the basis of the “vital idea” – the revival of the historical Cossacks on the banks of the Dnieper. Sakhno-Ustimovich believed that in order to implement his idea, it was necessary to have the following: an appeal from the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army to the population of Ukraine about the revival of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and an order to allow the formation of the first Camp of the Zaporozhian Cossack army from people born in Ukraine or somehow related to it, as well as those sympathizing with the idea of the revival of the historical Cossacks. The Camp of 500‒2000 people, volunteers not called up for military service or employees of rear institutions, was to be formed within a month as part of three branches of armed forces; then after becoming part of the landing detachment, it was to be transferred to Ukraine with the aim of becoming the core “around which the combat Cossack units would be united and organized.” Sakhno-Ustimovich proposed to entrust the organizational work on the formation of the Camp to himself and promised to immediately present a list of persons needed to carry out this task^[38].

Slashchev handed over the report to Wrangel along with his own report on the need to shift the center of influence of military operations to Ukraine and the “Draft of Necessary Measures for Resolving the Ukrainian Issue.” Among other things, the “Draft” proposed “the formation of the Ukrainian public-national unit ‒ the Ukrainian People’s Community, as the mouthpiece of public Ukrainian opinion,” the formation of the Council for Ukrainian Affairs under the Commander-in-Chief, the election of an appointed Ukrainian ataman, and the establishment of a blue-and-yellow flag with a white-blue-red corner for Ukrainian military and rebel units. The name “Ukrainian People's Community” apparently appeared in the “Draft” under the influence of Sakhno-Ustimovich, who was most likely the real author of this document. Two days later Wrangel received Slashchev and stated that

having nothing in principle against the presented project, due to well-known political considerations, he cannot give a definitive answer at this moment^[39].

The failure did not abash Sakhno-Ustimovich, and he began to act through other people, rather than Slashchev, who had already fallen into disgrace by that time.

On September 14, 1920, there was held a meeting of “descendants of Zaporozhian and Little Russian Cossacks and natives of Ukraine.” After hearing Sakhno-Ustimovich's report, it was decided that

the formation of the Dnieper Cossacks, disciplined and subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief <…> will be an act of primary state importance in the matter of recreating all of Orthodox Rus, also taking into account the various harmful political and economic movements in Ukraine that threaten the very existence of Great Russia^[40].

The participants of the meeting decided to unite into the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood and ask the church hierarchs and atamans of the existing Cossack army to file a petition with the ruler of the South of Russia for permission to form a “Camp of the Zaporozhian Cossack Host” on the Dnieper.

Among the persons who joined the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood, one can note Colonels S.S. Bondyrev, Prince V.N. Gagarin, A.M. Staritsky, Gorlenko, Zhukovsky, Leslie, A.F. Ponomarev, Lieutenant Colonels A.A. Volokhov, V.P. Daragan, L.V. Laushkin, V.N. Ponomarenko, Captains G.P. Kovalenko, Shpakovsky, Molin and Miroshnichenko, Lieutenants Malyarevsky, Morozovsky and A. Svyatogorov, Cornets G.I. Portansky and Shulkov, Esaul N.I. Pankratov, Second Lieutenant Dmitriev, Staff captain of the Cossack Horse Artillery N.K. Gildenbann-Vyhovsky (member of the State Committee on Defense under the Hetman), actual state councilors A. Shatkovsky and B.F. Grigorenko (one of the leaders of the Union of Grain Growers), state councilors Savitsky and M.M. Khanenko (former court marshal of the Hetman's court), V.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich (former commander of the Hetman's personal escort), attorney A.K. Zelensky, P.P. Galkin, B.I. Markevich, S.A. Glazunenko, M. Kochubey, V. Staritsky, A. Evtikhiev, as well as 15 more people whose signatures could not be identified. The core of the brotherhood consisted of about 50 people, a significant part of whom had previously served in the army of the Ukrainian state. Alexander Sakhno-Ustimovich was elected chairman of the initiative group of the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood, Portansky was elected secretary, and Shatkovsky, Bondyrev, Staritsky, Markevich, Laushkin, Zelensky and Molin were elected authorized members^[41].

On September 17, 1920, the authorized members of the initiative group prepared a report to Wrangel which proposed as follows: to prepare an address of the Interim Supreme Church Administration in the South-East of Russia to the entire population of Ukraine with an appeal for God’s blessing on those who wish to join the ranks of the Camp; to assign all free clergy and clerks to the Camp to carry out God's service and preach the Gospel; to invite all rebel detachments in Ukraine to join the Camp being formed; to announce that all those joining the Camp receive “the rights and privileges proper for the Russian Cossacks in general,” including the right to have their own ataman. “We, the true sons of Ukraine, the descendants of the Zaporozhian and Little Russian Cossacks, extend our fraternal hands to you,” the leaders of the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood wrote to Wrangel. In conclusion of the report, they petitioned for the earliest possible issuing of the order on the restoration of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, in order to do it by October 1 – the feast of the Protection of the Virgin Mary and the feast day of the Zaporozhian Sich Cossacks^[42].

The Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood appealed for support to the right-wing church figures and atamans of the Cossack army. Some of them Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) of Odessa and Kherson, Archbishop Feofan (Bystrov) of Poltava and Pereyaslav, Bishop Nikodim (Krotkov) of Chigirin, and the leader of the clerical-monarchist “Brotherhood of the Holy Cross,” Archpriest V.I. Vostokov did not respond (or did not have time to give their response in time). Others supported Sakhno-Ustimovich’s initiative and gave their conclusions. Thus, Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) of Kiev and Galicia, the former honorary chairman of the Pochaev department of the Union of the Russian People wrote: “The Ukrainian Cossacks emerged and lived as a defense of the Orthodox faith against Roman Catholicism and the Union. This goal united the Cossacks throughout the 200 years of their being in the Dnieper Ukraine, and only with such a banner can Little Russian and Russian Cossacks exist. May God bless the good initiative of restoring the Cossacks on the ancient Dnieper ashes.” Bishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov) of Sevastopol who was also connected with extreme right circles blessed the “holy cause” and volunteered to help it. Chairman of the Interim Supreme Church Administration in the South-East of Russia, one of the leaders of the All-Russian National Union, Archbishop Dimitry (Abashidze) of Taurida and Simferopol called on the Mother of God to be the “Heavenly Commander” of the Camp. “The Zaporozhian Cossacks will save the beautiful Ukraine, and with it the common Motherland, together with their Cossack brothers, children of the united Russian army,” wrote the Don Ataman, Lieutenant General A.P. Bogaevsky. “Glory to the reviving Zaporozhian Cossacks! Let the Zaporozhian Cossack brothers on the battlefields for their native land give Lenin and Trotsky such a proud response as their glorious ancestors gave to the Turkish Sultan!” In addition, support for Sakhno-Ustimovich’s initiative was expressed by Terek ataman, Lieutenant General G.A. Vdovenko, Kuban ataman V.N. Ivanis, Major General A.N. Donskov on behalf of the Astrakhan army, and General Secretary of the Ukrainian National Committee B.V. Tsytovich^[43].

After securing such considerable support, on September 23, 1920, Sakhno-Ustimovich presented to Wrangel the memorandum report and the attached report of the authorized members of the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood, the resolutions of the meeting of September 14, his report of July 30, and the resolutions of the hierarchs and atamans of the Cossack army. Sakhno-Ustimovich also handed over a certain resolution of the rebels of September 22, 1920, which expressed support for the the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood and promised to “give all their Cossacks to form a Cossack force.” The resolution was signed by the “ataman of the rebel forces of Ukraine” and esaul (the signatures of both are illegible), ataman Lazarenko and treasurer Nalivaiko. It is difficult to say whether these people had any authority.

Wrangel’s reaction to this project is unknown to us. The mention of the subsequent fate of the Orthodox Cossack Brotherhood can be found in the memoirs of Cornet G.I. Vergunsky who wrote about a group of “people who wanted, relying on strong feelings of deep faith in God and the national population of the south of Russia to wage a merciless struggle against the Bolsheviks, after receiving sympathy of this population and attracting to their side all the rebellious Little Russian atamans.” According to him, in the end

nothing came of it, despite the repeated vigorous efforts of the most intelligent, and most famous, and <…> most worthy hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and abroad – Metropolitan Anthony^[44].

A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich in exile

In early November 1920, Wrangel was forced to leave Crimea. Sakhno-Ustimovich was evacuated to Constantinople by “Konstantin” steamship^[45]. The embassy of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Constantinople reported that representative of the Ukrainian Cossack Orthodox Brotherhood, “Terek Colonel Sakhno-Ustimovich” attended one of the meetings of the local branch of the Ukrainian National Committee^[46]. As the Petliura newspaper “Ukrainska Tribuna” claimed, in early summer 1921, Sakhno-Ustimovich, who by that time had moved to Germany, was sent by Skoropadsky to the congress of Russian monarchists in Reichenhall with the task to gain understanding with them^[47]. In October 1921, an informant for Wrangel’s representative in Paris, Lieutenant General E.K. Miller reported that in Berlin circles Sakhno-Ustimovich was considered as a possible candidate for hetman:

For now, Sakhno still maintains contact with Skoropadsky, but he is in favor of federation with Moscow <…>. Sakhno wants to establish an Orthodox Cossack brotherhood (Little Russian or Zaporozhian). Bulgaria and Serbia promised to give him some monasteries for his warrior brothers. Sympathy in Russian circles of Berlin is on Sakhno's side. Skoropadsky is increasingly losing trust^[48].

Apparently, the colonel did not abandon the idea of creating a brotherhood, but the informant was mistaken about his desire to start an independent political career – in the early 1920s Sakhno-Ustimovich collaborated with the Hetman movement for some time^[49], although he did not lose contact with Russian circles, being a member of the Mutual Aid Society of Officers of the Former Russian Army and Navy.

In 1956, Sakhno-Ustimovich and his family moved to the United States. That same year, the Supreme Monarchist Council appointed him a representative of the Russian Monarchist Movement in the state of Illinois^[50]. At the same time, he continued to maintain contacts with the Skoropadsky family, although at that moment he did not take part in the Hetman movement. In January 1963, Sakhno-Ustimovich complained to Skoropadsky’s daughter Elizaveta:

There are no hetmans of our direction, apparently all our contemporaries have died, and the later generations are under the influence of the Galicians, who do not correspond to our spirit^[51].

He did not want to deal with the Petliurites either, and when their representatives approached the colonel with a request to provide his memoirs for their magazine, he refused^[52]. Sakhno-Ustimovich died in January 1973 in Chicago.

Conclusion

The attempt to revive the Zaporozhian Cossacks never came to fruition, although in the autumn of 1920 Sakhno-Ustimovich managed to gain the support of very influential people in Crimea; it is worth noting Don Ataman Bogaevsky and Bishop Veniamin who played a significant political role under Wrangel. Probably the Commander-in-chief of the Russian army would have eventually supported this project, but the military defeat and evacuation from Crimea put an end to Sakhno-Ustimovich’s dreams. He might have sincerely believed in the possibility of realizing his romantic-reactionary ideal, guided not least by religious considerations and trying to align his Ukrainian patriotism with pan-Russian patriotism. At the same time, one cannot help but note certain cynicism of the Little Russian landowners who tried to combine their estate projects with modern national movements, to “sell” the idea of reviving the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Ukrainian or Russian nationalists, depending on the circumstances. Today it is difficult to say what prevailed in the project of the Zaporozhian Cossacks revival – selfless faith in knightly ideals or the desire to protect their economic interests and maintain a privileged position.

_{¹ A. Kushhynsky, “Several documents about the ‘Ukrainian question’ under Wrangel,” Tryzub, no. 26–27 (1926): 25–26; D. Tabachnyk, “The Ukrainian State and the White Guard: from confrontation to belated compromise,” Polityka i chas, no 8 (1996): 71–74; V.N. Piskun, “Ukraintsy v pravitel'stve P. Vrangelya: lichnostnoe izmerenie [Ukrainians in the Wrangel’s government: a personal dimension],” in Krym. Vrangel'. 1920 god (Moscow: Sotsial'no-politicheskaya MYSL' Publ., 2006), 212–213.}

_{² Ya. Tynchenko, Armii Ukrainy 1917–1920 gg. [Armies of Ukraine 1917–1920] (Moscow: Vostochnyi gorizont Publ., 2002), 108; Ya. Tynchenko, Oficers'kyj korpus Armii' Ukrai'ns'koi' Narodnoi' Respubliky (1917–1921) [Officer Corps of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921)] (Kiev: Tempora Publ., 2007), 389–390; P. Gaj-Nyzhnyk, Pavlo Skoropadskyi i Vlasnyi Shtab getmana vsijei Ukrainy: borot'ba za vladu i derzhavnist' [Pavel Skoropadsky and his own headquarters of the hetman of all Ukraine: the struggle for power and statehood] (Kiev: Krok Publ., 2019), 237–241.}

_{³ Ya. Tynchenko, “The last hetmanists: the activities of the Sakhno-Ustimovich brothers in the Ukrainian military movement of 1917–1920,” Z arhiviv VUChK – GPU – NKVD – KGB, no. 1 (2020): 134–152.}

_{⁴ V. Sekachev, “Ukrainskii tserkovnyi separatism [Ukrainian Church separatism],” in Edinstvo Tserkvi. Bogoslovskaia konferentsiia 15–16 noiabria 1994 goda (Moscow: Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University Publ., 1996), 117.}

_{⁵ V.O. Modzalevskii, Malorossiiskii rodoslovnik [Little Russian genealogy] (Kiev: [N.s.], 1914), 545, 557–558, 562–563; “Generalnyi Yesaul Polkovnik A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich [General Esaul Colonel A.A. Sakhno-Ustimovich],” Kiyevskoye zhalo, no. 5 (1918): 3–4.}

_{⁶ “Generalnyi Yesaul,” 3–4.}

_{⁷ Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi voienno-istoricheskii arkhiv (Russian State Military Historical Archive – RSMHA), f. 409, p/s 299–136, l. 73–73 ob.}

_{⁸ V.O. Modzalevskii, Malorossiiskii rodoslovnik, 563.}

_{⁹ “Generalnyi Yesaul,” 4.}

_{¹⁰ V. Kedrovsky, “The beginning of Ukrainization in the Russian Army and the First Ukrainian Military Congress,” Visti kombatanta, no. 1 (1967): 25.}

_{¹¹ Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (State Archives of the Russian Federation – GARF), f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9 ob.}

_{¹² “Generalnyi Yesaul,” 4.}

_{¹³ P. Skoropadsky, Spogady. Kinec' 1917 – gruden' 1918 [Memoirs. Late 1917 – December 1918] (Kiev; Philadelphia: [N.s.], 1995), 102.}

_{¹⁴ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9 ob.}

_{¹⁵ P. Skoropadsky, Spogady, 41, 152.}

_{¹⁶ N. Raevsky, “Tysyacha devyatsot vosemnadtsatyi god [One thousand nine hundred and eighteenth year],” Prostor, no. 6 (1992): 13.}

_{¹⁷ N. Raevsky, “Tysyacha devyatsot vosemnadtsatyi god [One thousand nine hundred and eighteenth year],” Prostor, no. 6 (1992): 16.}

_{¹⁸ “Generalnyi Yesaul,” 3–4.}

_{¹⁹ Tsentralnyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv vysshikh organov vlasti Ukrainy (Central State Archives of the Supreme Authorities of Ukraine – TGAVOV Ukrainy), f. 1074, op. 1, d. 2 а, l. 56.}

_{²⁰ V. Lobodajev, Revoljucijna styhija. Vil'nokozac'kyj ruh v Ukrai'ni 1917–1918 rr. [Revolutionary element. Free Cossack movement in Ukraine in 1917–1918] (Kiev: Tempora Publ., 2010), 226, 538.}

_{²¹ E. Zhukov, “Po povodu ‘Dnei Turbinykh’ [On the ‘Days of the Turbins’],” Novoe Vremia, no. 2338, February, 17 (1929): 2.}

_{²² Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European Culture. I.K. Sakhno‑Ustimovich Papers. Box 3.}

_{²³ V.F. Romanov, Starorezhimnyi chinovnik (iz lichnykh vospominanii ot shkoly do emigratsii. 1874–1920 gg.) [Old regime official (personal memories from school to emigration. 1874–1920)] (St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2019), 410, 425.}

_{²⁴ Hoover Institution Archives (HIA). P.N. Vrangel collection, box 30, folder 26. Review of the activities of the Ukrainian People's Community.}

_{²⁵ Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Odesskoi oblasti (State Archives of Odessa Region – GAO), f. 153, op. 1, d. 571, l. 2 ob. – 3.}

_{²⁶ Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Odesskoi oblasti (State Archives of Odessa Region – GAO), f. 153, op. 1, d. 571, l. 3.}

_{²⁷ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9.}

_{²⁸ A.G. Shkuro, Grazhdanskaia voina v Rossii: Zapiski belogo partizana [Civil War in Russia: Notes of a white partisan] (Moscow: AST; Tranzitkniga Publ., 2004), 394–397.}

_{²⁹ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9.}

_{³⁰ Ya. Tynchenko, “The last hetmanists,” 144.}

_{³¹ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9 ob.}

_{³² GARF, f. Р-7030, op. 1, d. 224, l. 53 ob.}

_{³³ Ibid., f. Р-7440, op. 1, d. 3, l. 5, 114, 136.}

_{³⁴ Ibid., f. Р-6217, op. 1, d. 17, l. 1–1 ob.}

_{³⁵ L. Chykalenko, Uryvky zi spogadiv z rokiv 1919–1920 [Excerpts from memoirs of 1919–1920] (New York: Nasha Batkivshhyna Publ., 1963), 137–138.}

_{³⁶ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 9–10 ob.}

_{³⁷ Ibid., f. Р-6217, op. 1, d. 39, l. 28.}

_{³⁸ GARF, f. Р-6217, op. 1, d. 39, l. 28–28 а.}

_{³⁹ Ya.A. Slashchov-Crimean, Trebuiu suda obshchestva i glasnosti (Oborona i sdacha Kryma). Memuary i dokumenty [I demand a public trial and publicity (Defense and surrender of Crimea). Memoirs and documents] (Constantinople: M. Shulman Publ., 1921), 59–66.}

_{⁴⁰ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 7.}

_{⁴¹ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 6–8 ob.}

_{⁴² Ibid., l. 2–3 ob.}

_{⁴³ GARF, f. Р-422, op. 1, d. 1, l. 2, 3 об. – 6.}

_{⁴⁴ G.I. Vergunskii, Mucheniia pravdy. Ocherki [The torment of the truth. Essays] (Novi Sad: [N.s.], 1925), 126–127.}

_{⁴⁵ Glavnoie spravochnoie byuro v Konstantinopole, 1920–1922 gg.: imennyie spiski bezhentsev i chinov Russkoi Armii: Sbornik dokumentov [Main Information Bureau in Constantinople, 1920–1922: Name lists of refugees and officials of the Russian Army: Collection of documents] (Moscow: Institut Naslediya Publ., 2022), 355.}

_{⁴⁶ TGAVOV Ukrainy, f. 3696, op. 2, d. 360, l. 7 ob.}

_{⁴⁷ “Скоропадський i монархисты [Skoropadskyi and monarchists],” Ukrainian Tribune, no. 134, October 13 (1921): 2.}

_{⁴⁸ HIA, Evgenii Miller papers, box 19, folder 12, Letter from E.K. Miller to V.F. Kirey, October 24, 1921.}

_{⁴⁹ Скоропадськi. Родинний альбом [Skoropadsky. Rodinny album] (Київ: [N.s.], 2014), 141, 466.}

_{⁵⁰ “Referendum,” Izvestiia Vysshego monarkhicheskogo soveta, no. 18 (1956): 4.}

_{⁵¹ Tsentralnyi gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv Ukrainy, g. Kiyev (Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, Kyiv – TGIA), f. 1219, op. 4, d. 1785, l. 1.}

_{⁵² Ibid.}

About the authors

Anton A. Chemakin

Author for correspondence.
Email: a.chemakin@spbu.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6078-4044
SPIN-code: 6686-7066

PhD in History, Associate Professor of the Department of History for Teaching at the Natural and Humanitarian Faculties, Institute of History

References

Supplementary files