Golovin, Fedor Alekseevich

Born 1650; died July 30 (Aug. 10), 1706. Russian diplomat and statesman. Admiral-general (1700); count (1702). From an old dvorianin (noble or gentry) family.

Golovin drew up and concluded with China the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689). He was second ambassador in the Grand Mission to Western Europe. From 1697 to 1700, when the first reforms were made and changes in the course of foreign policy adopted, Golovin was Peter I’s closest collaborator. He participated energetically in the creation of the Russian navy. Jointly with Peter I, he conducted secret negotiations for the conclusion of treaties with Saxony and Denmark (1699). Together with P. B. Voznitsyn, he prepared E. I. Ukraintsev’s mission to Constantinople, the purpose of which was to conclude a peace agreement with Turkey. In 1699, Golovin was named chief of the Military-Naval Prikaz (Military-Naval Office). He was appointed head of the Posol’ski Prikaz (Foreign Office) in 1700. Simultaneously, he directed the Communications and Transportation Prikaz, the Armory, and the Gold and Silver offices. Golovin introduced the stamp duty in Russia. He took part in the formation of a regular Russian army. In 1701, he accompanied Peter I to Birzhai (present-day Madona, in Latvia), where the alliance between Peter and Augustus II was confirmed. In August 1704 he signed the Russo-Polish Treaty. In Golovin’s chancellery, a system was created to give Russia permanent representatives abroad. Under his direction the Russo-Turkish border in the Kuban’ and in the Dnieper region was defined (1703–05).