Diplomats of Foreign Origin in the Service of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the 18th Century: Opportunities and Career Limits (a Case of the Mission in Regensburg)

The article examines the reasons and ways of entering the Russian service in the second half of the 18th century by diplomats of foreign origin - both subjects of other states and natives of the Ostsee (Baltic) provinces of the Russian Empire. The object of the study is the Russian mission to the Perpetual Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in Regensburg, established in 1757. Based on unpublished materials from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents, unknown facts in the biographies of Russian diplomats I. M. Simolin, J. Facius, A. S. Struve, A. F. Asseburg are revealed. The mechanisms of their career growth, as well as the features of self-perception of their own service are examined.