He is noted amongst others for his participation in the Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723, during which, in 1723, he captured the Persian city of Baku after a siege of four days.
He was the son of the nobleman Athanasius Ivanovich Matyushkin (d. 1676), he himself being a great-nephew of Tsarina Eudoxia Streshneva (1608-1645).
In 1697, Mikhail was sent to Italy to study marine affairs, but after returning home, he joined the army.
During the Great Northern War, with the rank of Major and in command of a battalion of the Preobrazhenskii Regiment, he participated in the Battle of Poltava (1709) and in the Pruth campaign (1711).
He participated in the Russo-Persian War of 1722-1723, which had been initiated by his relative Peter I. Mikhail was ordered to capture Baku with a flotilla.