Ivan Beloborodov

Year of birth unknown; died Sept. 5 (16), 1774. Active participant in the peasant war led by E. I. Pugachev.

Beloborodov was a descendant of peasants who were conscripted for plants in the Urals. During the years 1759–66 he was a soldier. In January 1774, together with a detachment of Bashkirs, he joined the uprising. Beloborodov established close ties with Salavat Iulaiev and with Pugachev; he joined Pugachev in May 1774. He attempted to make first the Kasli, and then the Satka, plants the principal base of the uprising in the Urals. He also tried to organize military training and establish discipline among the insurgents, as well as to regulate the seizure and distribution of state and landowners’ property. Beloborodov was a member of the military staff of the insurgents, serving as “chief hetman and campaign colonel.” He played an outstanding role in the capture of Kazan (July 1774). Near Kazan Beloborodov was taken prisoner by tsarist troops, and he was executed in Moscow.