Born at Zimoevkaya upon Don, he led a peasant and Cossak rebellion against Catherine II. In 1773 he proclaimed himsel Czar with the name of Peter III, who was dead in 1762 (possibly killed by Catherine II lover, Alexius Orlov), pretending to be him the real, and alive, Peter III. Captured in 1774 because of the trahison of his aids, he was executed with quartering, on the order of Catherine II. His memory is handed on in folk-songs and ballads.