Was Peter the Great Russia’s Antichrist – or its saviour?

Why order, not freedom, is the true legacy of Russian Empire’s legendary ruler

Russia’s Channel One is airing a new TV series, ‘The Sovereign’, about Peter the Great. It joins a long tradition of cinematic portrayals of the country’s first emperor, stretching back to 1937. In one adaptation, the actor Vladimir Vysotsky even played Peter as a black man. So why another series now? Surely everything that can be said about Peter has already been said? Perhaps. But each generation needs to reimagine its foundational figures. Every era craves its own definitive image of the man who forged the modern Russian state. 

Early in the series, we hear Peter declare: “I am defending the state from turmoil and destruction.” This comes as he, Alexander Menshikov, and their allies suppress the Streltsy rebellion of 1698, beheading its leaders. The series frames the rebellion not as a social uprising, but as a political coup linked to his regent and half-sister Sophia’s ambitions. That may be historically accurate. But more importantly, the show makes clear that Peter’s primary mission was to impose order. Not to expand liberty, not to celebrate freedom – but to build a functional, centralized state.

We often associate Peter with Russia’s turn to the West. And the West, in the modern imagination, is a place of liberty. But this is a projection. In the 17th century, the West was admired not for its freedoms, but for its effective statehood. Liberty without a state is meaningless. Peter understood this. His task was not to liberalize, but to organize. 

What was the context? Russia was blessed with vast territory, but cursed with climate. Until the late 19th century, oil and gas meant little. What counted was fertile land and sunshine. Russia had little of either. It wasn’t backwardness by choice or culture – but by circumstance. 

Compare Peter’s Russia with the France of Louis XIV. Both ruled over similar-sized populations, but Louis drew far more wealth from his lands. France’s climate yielded olives, grapes, and abundant crops that could be stored, traded, and taxed. These natural advantages funded a glittering court and a centralized bureaucracy.

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Peter lacked these assets. But he compensated through force of will and ruthless reform. He borrowed institutional models from the West and bent them to Russian needs. He transformed the Muscovite Tsardom into an Empire – a structure capable of absorbing diverse peoples while enforcing uniform rule.

Just as Christ said, “I bring not peace, but a sword,” Peter brought not freedom, but structure. His legacy includes the colleges, the Senate, the Table of Ranks, the General Regulations, and a new administrative order. He built a police system. He founded a modern army and navy – the latter essentially from scratch, modelled on Western prototypes. This wasn’t imitation; it was intelligent adaptation.

The new series embraces this narrative: Peter as the architect of Russian statehood. Was it harsh? Certainly. Was it traumatic? Unquestionably. But the scale of his achievements is undeniable. Take St. Petersburg. The very idea of building a European imperial capital on a swamp, without a robust financial system or local expertise, was absurd. Yet 300 years later, the city remains one of Europe’s jewels and a source of national pride.

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Konstantin Plotnikov plays Peter with fierce intensity – the role demands little more than a penetrating stare. Evgeny Tkachuk, as Menshikov, is more nuanced: cunning, impulsive, charming, drunk, and politically shrewd. His performance conveys both loyalty and ambition, making him a compelling foil to the tsar.

The early episodes unfold in the Sloboda, a German quarter reminiscent of gentrified Elektrozavodskaya. That visual parallel may help the show resonate with younger viewers. Yet not everything is pitch-perfect. At one point, Menshikov flirts with a German waitress. Peter, handing her a coin, says “Fille danke” instead of the correct “vielen Dank.” A small slip – but you wonder how no one on the production team caught it. It’s the sort of clumsy foreign-language moment we used to mock in old Hollywood films.

Still, such details don’t detract from the show’s power. The main thing is that it tells a coherent story – a story that matters. Because Peter the Great is not just a historical figure. He’s a symbol. He represents the hard choices required to pull a sprawling, disorganized nation into modernity. He chose order over liberty because Russia, at that moment, needed order to survive.

And that’s why Russian art keeps coming back to him. In times of uncertainty, we look for clarity. Peter offers that. He reminds us that statehood is never accidental. It must be built – with sweat, blood, and vision. His legacy isn’t comfort. It’s structure. Not freedom, but foundation.

Every generation has to decide what it values most. This series suggests that, for Russia, the answer is still clear. Order first. The rest will follow.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team