Prince Nikolai or Nicholas Vasilyevich Repnin (; – ) was a Russian statesman and general from the Repnin princely family who played a key role in the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; the leading figure in the Repnin Sejm, the victor at Măcin.
Early life and education
Born in Saint Petersburg, his parents were Prince Vasily Anikitovich Repnin and Daria Fedorovna Makarova. He was the grandson of Anikita Ivanovitch Repnin, who served during the reign of Emperor Peter I the Great.
Catherine II appointed him director of the Land Noble Corps, and a few months later sent him to Poland, where he was to assist the Russian envoy, Count Hermann Carl von Keyserling, in seeking equal rights with Catholics for so-called dissidents (Orthodox and Protestants). After Keyserling's death in 1764, Repnin became minister plenipotentiary and began actively intervening in the country's internal affairs and promoting the elevation of Stanisław Poniatowski to the vacant Polish throne following the death of king Augustus III, a position that completely satisfied the Saint Petersburg court.
Due to the level of Russian control of the Polish government, Repnin was the effective ruler of the country, with special instructions to form a pro-Russian faction from among the various Protestants, who were to receive equal rights with the Catholics. Repnin believed that the Protestants were not significant enough to benefit Russia; at the same time, the Protestant community itself petitioned Empress Catherine, requesting not to be involved.
thumb|Prince Nicolas von Repnin 1779
Repnin convinced himself that the dissidents were too poor and insignificant to be of any real support to Russia, and that the whole agitation in their favour was factitious. At last, indeed, the dissidents themselves even petitioned the empress to leave them alone. It is clear from his correspondence that Repnin, a singularly proud and high-spirited man, much disliked the very dirty work he was called upon to do. Nevertheless he faithfully obeyed his instructions, and, by means more or less violent or discreditable, forced the Sejm of 1768 to concede everything. — Józef Andrzej Załuski and Wacław Rzewuski. The immediate result was the formation of the Bar Confederation, which practically demolished the ambassador's strategy.
The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. Repnin was removed from his Warsaw post and sent to fight the Osmans. However, according to French diplomat, Baron Marie Daniel Bourrée de Corberon (1748–1810), not everyone at the Saint Petersburg court was impressed by the results of his mission to Warsaw:<blockquote>"Possessing a rather lively but superficial mind, he pleases women, but is also completely subservient to them; pleasure is the sole motive for all his actions. Everyone here is dissatisfied with his work in Poland, as he has only muddled matters to Russia's disadvantage. He was in love with the wife of Adam Czartoryski, the Russians' most feared enemy. Submitting to this woman, he is said to have paid her for a night of patronage for the Bar Confederation, contrary to the interests of his court. This grave mistake left such a bad impression here that the question arose of whether Repnin should be recalled under the pretext that he had gone mad."</blockquote>
Military career
Nikolai Repnin resigned his post as Russian envoy to lead troops against the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. Having settled his urgent affairs in Warsaw, Repnin left Poland, where he had been the de facto "king" for six years, and joined Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn's forces, then stationed near Khotyn. The siege dragged on sluggishly. Participating in repelling repeated Turkish attempts to cross the Dniester throughout August, which limited his combat activities, Repnin languished in inaction, a state especially acute after the turbulent Polish life of recent years. On 9 September 1769, Khotyn was cleared by the Turks.