Hetman articles

Hetman articles (Hetmanski statti). Legal documents that defined the prerogatives of the Cossack Hetman state in the 17th and 18th centuries and its relations with Muscovy. The first such articles were compiled as a result of negotiations between Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky's emissaries and representatives of the tsar in March 1654 in Moscow (see Pereiaslav Treaty of 1654). New articles were drawn up with the election of each new hetman. Although they were based in principle on those agreed to by Khmelnytsky, there tended to be a further erosion of the rights of the Hetman state with each new agreement. In addition to the agreement of 1654, there were the Pereiaslav Articles of 1659 and 1674, the Hlukhiv Articles of Demian Mnohohrishny in 1669, the Konotop Articles of Ivan Samoilovych in 1672, and the Kolomak Articles of Ivan Mazepa in 1687. The last articles were those of Danylo Apostol in 1728. Thereafter Ukraine's status was determined by unilateral acts on the part of the Russian government, which increasingly diminished Ukrainian autonomy.