He was the chief translator in the Russian Foreign Office for many years, subsequently accompanying Tsar Peter on his travels.

Peter left him in the hands of the Turks as a hostage, and on the breaking of the peace he was imprisoned in the Seven Towers.

Finally, however, with the aid of the British and Dutch ambassadors, he defeated the diplomacy of Charles XII of Sweden and his agents, and confirmed the good relations between Russia and Turkey by the treaty of Adrianople (June 1713).

On the death of Peter, Shafirov was released from prison and commissioned to write the biography of his late master.

However, the successful rivalry of his supplanter, Andrei Osterman, prevented Shafirov from holding any high office during the last fourteen years of his life.