[citation needed] Pavel Kochubey, who headed the Poltava court, gave his sons the ancient names of Apollo and Victor.

Their childless uncle Alexander Bezborodko, who was actually in charge of Russia's foreign policy at the time, took care of their upbringing and education.

[citation needed] Viktor studied at the private boarding House de Villeneuve, at the same time in 1776 was recorded for service in the Preobrazhensky Lab-Guard regiment.

[citation needed] In September 1786 he received the court title of chamber-junker and was a member of Catherine II's entourage during her trip to Crimea.

[citation needed] In early 1791, against the will of Bezborodko, he made a trip to Paris, where he listened to lectures by Jean-Francois de La Harpe and watched the events of the revolution.

[citation needed] The accession to the throne of Paul I did not entail the disgrace of Bezborodko (as happened with the majority of people who used the location of the late Empress) and therefore, in October 1798, his protege and nephew became vice-chancellor and vice-president of the College of Foreign Affairs.

At the age of thirty he was made into active secret advisers, and on April 4, 1799 he was elevated to the counties dignity of the Russian Empire.

[citation needed] As a diplomat, Kochubey held on to a 'national system based on Russia's good,' wanted 'all powers to cherish its friendship' and fear territorial increments.

[citation needed] Upon his accession to the throne, Alexander I was appointed as president of the College of Foreign Affairs and a senator in June 1801.

Much more important was the fact he became one of the closest advisers to the emperor and joined the Unspoken Committee, designed to prepare the transformation of the state system of Russia.

Anglophile Kochubey considered the conclusion of the Tilsit world the collapse of all Russian foreign policy, desisting the bloody wars of the previous years, and several times asked the emperor to resign.

He was offered the position of ambassador to England, which he refused because he did not want to leave Russia at such a difficult time (liked to repeat that a long stay outside the fatherland was against his rules).

In the same year, the emperor ordered to move to the semicircular square in front of his tsarist palace cast-iron gates with the inscription A mes chers compagnons d'armes ('To my beloved colleagues').

[citation needed] In 1819, Kochubey purchased a plot on the banks of the Fontanka from Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky and ordered the architect Montferran to build a mansion for his family.

[citation needed] Having surrendered the ministry's management on February 25, 1823 (officially removed from office on June 28, 1823), Kochubey turned his attention to his youngest daughter's illness.