The name Judas has long become a household name when referring to traitors and traitors. It is interesting that in Europe the Iscariot plot is not as popular in folklore as in our country. But both across the sea and on our land there are traitors, sometimes even in abundance.
Oleg Ryazansky
Historians are still arguing about whether the Ryazan prince Oleg Ioannovich was a traitor. He avoided participating in the Battle of Kulikovo - the decisive one in the struggle against the Golden Horde yoke. The prince entered into an alliance with Khan Mamai and the Lithuanian prince Yagaila against Moscow, and later gave Moscow to Khan Tokhtamysh. For his contemporaries, Oleg Ryazansky is a traitor whose name is cursed. However, in our time, there is an opinion that Oleg took on the difficult mission of Moscow's secret spy in the Horde. The agreement with Mamai allowed him to find out military plans and report them to Dmitry of Moscow. Even Tokhtamysh's campaign against Moscow, supported by him, is explained in this theory. They say it was necessary to play for time and weaken the forces of the Horde by sieging a powerful fortress. Dmitry, meanwhile, was gathering an army from all over Russia and preparing for a decisive battle. It was Oleg's Ryazan squads that were a barrier to Moscow from the Lithuanian prince Yagaila, and a blow from Lithuanian troops would have called into question the outcome of the battle on the Kulikovo field. Of his contemporaries, only Tokhtamysh guessed about the prince's double policy - and completely destroyed the Ryazan principality.
Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich
Moscow Prince Yuri (Georgy) Danilovich could count only on intrigues in the Horde in the struggle for the Vladimir throne with Mikhail Tverskoy, the son of Yaroslav III: Moscow at the turn of the 12th – 13th centuries was significantly inferior to Tver in power. In the Horde, the prince was his own man, having lived for two years in Sarai. Having married the sister of Khan Uzbek Konchak (baptized Agafya), he received a label for the Grand Duke's throne. But, having come to Russia with this label and the army of the Mongols, Yuri was defeated by Michael and fled back to the Horde. Konchaka was taken prisoner by the Tverites and soon died. Yuri accused Mikhail Tverskoy of poisoning her and disobeying the Horde. The prince was summoned to the Horde, where the court sentenced him to death. But for a long time, Mikhail, chained in stocks, had to wander along with the Tatar camp, and only after many torments the prince was killed. Yuri got Vladimir and a few years later - death at the hands of the son of the deceased prince of Tver. Posthumous glory to Mikhail: On December 5, Russia celebrates the Day of Remembrance of the Great Martyr Saint Blessed Prince Mikhail of Tver, the patron and patron saint of Tver.
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Hetman Mazepa
For a long time, the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa was one of the closest associates of Peter I. For services to Russia, he was even awarded the highest state award - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. But during the Northern War, Mazepa openly joined the Swedish king Charles XII and entered into an agreement with the Polish king Stanislav Leshchinsky, promising Poland Kiev, Chernigov and Smolensk. For this he wanted to receive the title of prince and the right to Vitebsk and Polotsk. About three thousand Zaporozhye Cossacks went over to Mazepa's side. In response, Peter I stripped the traitor of all titles and elected a new hetman, and the Metropolitan of Kiev anathematized the defector. Soon many of Mazepa's adherents repentantly returned to the side of the Russians. By the decisive battle near Poltava, the hetman was left with a handful of people loyal to him. Peter rejected his attempts to negotiate a return to Russian citizenship. After the defeat of the Swedes in the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Mazepa, along with the defeated Swedish king, fled to the Ottoman Empire, where he soon died.
Prince Kurbsky
Prince Andrei Kurbsky is called the "first Russian dissident" today. For a long time he was one of the most influential statesmen in Russia and the closest friend of Ivan IV. He was a member of the "Chosen Rada", which ruled the state on behalf of the tsar through major long-term reforms. However, it was not for nothing that he received the nickname Terrible, Tsar Ivan Radu dismissed, and its active participants were subjected to disgrace and executions. Fearing the same fate, Kurbsky fled to Lithuania. The Polish king granted him several estates and included in the members of the Royal Council. Already abroad, Kurbsky wrote a political pamphlet accusing the tsar of despotism - "The Story of the Grand Duke of Moscow." However, it was a question of betrayal later, when in 1564 Kurbsky led one of the Polish armies in the war against Russia. Although he could leave military service. After Kurbsky fled, his wife,the son and mother were tortured and killed. Grozny explained his cruelty by the fact of treason and violation of the kissing of the cross, accusing his former friend of trying to seize power in Yaroslavl and of poisoning his beloved wife, Tsarina Anastasia.
General Vlasov
During the Great Patriotic War, his name became a household name, denoting a traitor to the Motherland. Even the Nazis hated the traitor: Himmler called him "a runaway pig and a fool." Hitler didn't even want to meet him.
Soviet Lieutenant General Andrei Andreevich Vlasov in 1942 was the commander of the 2nd shock army and deputy commander of the Volkhov front. Once captured by the Germans, Vlasov deliberately went to cooperate with the Nazis, giving them secret information and advising them on how to fight the Soviet army correctly. He collaborated with Himmler, Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop, with various high-ranking officials of the Abwehr and the Gestapo. In Germany, Vlasov organized the Russian Liberation Army from Russian prisoners of war recruited to serve the Germans. ROA troops took part in the fight against partisans, robberies and executions of civilians, destruction of entire settlements. In 1945, immediately after Germany's surrender, Vlasov was captured by the Red Army, in 1946 he was convicted on charges of high treason and hanged.