Danubian Sich

The Danubian Sich (Ukrainian: Задунайська Сiч) was an organization of the part of former Zaporozhian Cossacks who settled in the territory of the Ottoman Empire (the Danube Delta, hence the name) after their previous host was disbanded and the Zaporizhian Sich was destroyed.

By the late 18th century, the combat ability of Zaporozhia was greatly reduced, especially after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca and the Russian annexation of Crimea, when the need for the Host to guard the borders was removed. At the same time, the Zaporozhian's other enemy, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was also weakened and on the verge of being partitioned. This meant that militarily the Zaporozhian Sich was becoming increasingly superfluous, but at the same time their existence caused friction with Imperial Russian authorities who wanted to colonise the newly acquired lands that the Cossacks inhabited. After a number of Cossack attacks on Serbian colonies and with Cossack support offered to Yemelyan Pugachev, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great issued an order to General Pyotr Tekeli to end the troublesome Sich.

Tekeli's operation, carried out in June 1775, was bloodless. The Zaporozhian Sich was surrounded with infantry and artillery and an ultimatum was given to the Kosh otaman Petro Kalnyshevsky to destroy the Sich and to have Zaporozhian knights transfer to the family life. The Cossacks did not resist so that no Russian blood would be spilt. But later Zaporozhian Cossack Grigory Potemkin, and apparently without Kalnyshevky's knowledge, reached an agreement to allow a group of 50 Cossacks under the guidance of a starshyna Lyakh to go fishing in the river Ingul next to the Southern Buh in Ottoman territory and to issue 50 passports. The pretext was enough to allow the Russians to let the Cossacks, as 50 passports allowed five thousand Cossacks to leave (approximately 30% of the Zaporozhian Cossacks). As long as Potemkin could be guilty, so starshyna, including Kalnyshevsky, was arrested for this.

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Wikipedia