1727: Empress Catherine I ordered the expulsion of all jews fr | This day in jew history

1727: Empress Catherine I ordered the expulsion of all jews from Ukraine.

Her husband, Peter the Great had ruled from 1682 until 1725, when she was coronated.
After having defeated the Kingdom of Sweden in the great Northern War, he became famous for building
St Petersburg in the newly won land.
One in Peter's lineage, Naryshko of the Crimean Peninsula, was a karaite jew.
Peter’s critics, mostly of the aristocracy, reminded him of this, and even denounced him as the Antichrist himself.
The Russian Orthodox Church particularly resented what it perceived as his "modernizing" crusade against religion and morality, as he had gone on a "Great Expedition" throughout Europe and now, having returned at the close of the 17th century, sought to make Russia more European-esque.
In October 1697, he offered António de Vieira, who had fled the Portuguese Inquisition to Holland, a position in his court.
At first, Viera, who took the name Devier, was Peter’s personal aide, but he was quickly promoted to naval secretary and then by 1718, he had risen to the rank of adjutant-general.
He then decided that year that he wanted Prince Menshikov's sister and seduced her. They were both apprehended by her brother, who ordered Vieira to be beaten to death. 
When he had asked for her hand, Menshikov’s servants had thrown him down the stairs.
He appealed to the tsar for mercy, and Peter ordered Vieira to be liberated and married to Menshikov's sister the very next day. A month later,
Peter founded St. Petersburg’s first police force and appointed Viera chief.
After Peter's death in 1725, Vieira managed to maintain his position, chiefly through the influence of his wife, a lady-in-waiting at the court of Catherine I.
On October 24, 1726, he was made count and admitted to the Senate. His brother-in-law's influence on the Empress, however, was paramount. As Vieira dared to oppose Menshikov's plan of marrying his daughter to the future Peter II of Russia, he was arrested and put to the torture. After 10 days of inquest, Vieira was stripped of his estates and titles and
condemned to hang. At the last minute, he was exiled to Siberia instead, where he would live for four years.

Catherine passed away less than a month after the expulsion order was issued.

https://segulamag.com/en/articles/in-the-service-of-the-czar/