Pereyaslav Council - Kyiv, Ukraine

3D Model

The Pereyaslav Council, also referred to as the Treaty of Pereyaslav, was an event organized by the Council (rada) of Pereyaslav in the town of Pereyaslav (present-day Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi in central Ukraine) in January 1654. Initiated by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the council aimed to address the issue of the Cossack Hetmanate amid the ongoing Khmelnytsky Uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Khmelnytsky secured the military protection of the Tsardom of Russia by pledging allegiance to the Tsar. Soon after, the leaders of the Cossack Hetmanate took an oath of allegiance to the Russian monarch, followed by other officials, clergy, and inhabitants of the Hetmanate. The exact nature of the relationship established by the agreement between the Hetmanate and Russia remains a subject of debate among scholars.