From 1808 to 1811, he attended Moscow University, where he studied literature with Aleksey Merzlyakov, and history with Mikhail Kachenovsky [ru].

After graduating, he enlisted as a Podpraporshchik (Ensign) in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment and participated in numerous actions during the Napoleonic wars, for which he was awarded the Orders of St. George and of Saint Anna and the Kulm Cross.

[2] In 1816, he joined with Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy and several of his fellow officers to create a secret organization known as the Union of Salvation; a precursor to what would later be called the Decembrist movement.

[2] Later that year, when it appeared that Russia would go to war with the Turks, he requested a transfer to a unit in Chernigov Governorate that was under the command of his friend, Mikhail Fonvizin, who he persuaded to become a member.

When the unit was brought back to Moscow, he expressed disagreement with the Union's charter, written in his absence, citing the blind obedience required, and helped to write a new one, based on the German Tugendbund.

[3] Shortly after, he retired from the military and returned to his family estates, where he began to act on some of the proposed reforms; eventually deciding to free his serfs entirely.

[2] Much to his surprise, they chose to maintain the status quo; although this may have been due to pressure from the Ministry of the Interior, which he had informed of his intentions.

When a letter from Ivan Pushchin arrived, describing the situation in Saint Petersburg, Yakushkin invited his friends to incite the troops in Moscow to stage a rebellion.

After much negotiation, this was granted, but Yakushkin himself rejected the favor, officially declaring they had no right to it, but conveying to Anastasia his concern about what might happen if she and the children were separated.

[3] He would remain in Irkutsk until 1856, when an Imperial manifesto freed the Decembrists from exile, although they were forbidden to enter any major cities.

Upon returning home, he failed to improve, so his sons contacted Prince Vasily Dolgorukov, a high official in the Chancellery, and asked him to seek permission for their father to receive medical treatment in Moscow.

This passed through several officials, reaching Tsar Alexander II, who approved, as many Decembrists were making the same request.