Pyotr Zavadovsky

Count Pyotr Zavadovsky (, ; 1739–1812) was a Russian statesman of Ukrainian origin. He was a favourite (lover) of Russian empress Catherine the Great from 1776 to 1777.

Ancestry Pyotr (Petro) Zavadovsky was a descendant of Cossack starshyna from the area of Chernihiv, known since the times of hetman Ivan Samoilovych. His father Vasyl took part in campaigns against Poland and Turkey, and his brother Yakiv served as the last colonel of Starodub Regiment, and, in 1794, governor of Novhorod-Siverskyi.

Career After graduating from Kyiv Mohyla Academy, in 1767 Zavadovsky became a secretary at the Collegium of Little Russia. In 1774 he entered state service of the Russian Empire, and eventually received the title of count, receiving large landholdings in Ukraine and Belarus.

In 1780, he was appointed a privy councillor; in 1781, he became the director of the state bank. He later became a senator and, at the end of his life, the minister of education under Emperor Alexander I. On this position he contributed to the foundation of Kharkiv University (1805). In 1810 Zavadovsky headed the Department of Law at the State Council. He died in 1812 in Saint Petersburg.