Vasily Mirovich

Vasily Yakovlevich Mirovich was a Little Russian (Ukrainian) lieutenant in the Imperial Russian Army's 25th Smolensk Infantry Regiment best known for his attempted but ultimately unsuccessful rescue of Ivan VI of Russia at Shlisselburg Fortress during the reign of Catherine the Great. Ivan VI had been Emperor of Russia for less than a year as an infant in 1740–1741, until he and his family were deposed and imprisoned by Elizabeth of Russia. The attempted rescue ended with Ivan VI's murder by his two permanent prison guards, who were under strict and secret orders by the empress and her successors to kill their prisoner in such an event.