"François Jacques Le Fort also spelled Lefort (Russian: Франц Яковлевич Лефорт, tr. Frants Yakovlevich Lefort; January 2(12), 1656 – March 2(12), 1699) was a Genevan-born Russian military figure of Huguenot origin, general admiral (1695), and close associate of Tsar Peter the Great.
François Le Fort, born in Geneva, came from a merchant family. He began his military career in the Dutch army. In 1675 Le Fort arrived in Archangelsk in the company of the Prussian Colonel Jacob van Frosten
in order to find employment with the Russian army. In February 1676 he came to Moscow, but military officials turned him down. The Posolsky Prikaz listed him as a visiting foreigner. Le Fort settled in the so-called Nemetskaya sloboda in Moscow, where he would gain respect among other distinguished foreigners. In July 1678 he once again applied for service in the tsarist army. Accepted with the rank of captain, Le Fort then went to one of the fronts during the Russo-Turkish War of 1676–1681. In early 1679 he was ordered to join the Kiev garrison under the command of Prince Vasily Golitsyn and General Patrick Gordon. Upon his return to Moscow from a short trip to Geneva in 1683, Le Fort carried out various diplomatic assignments until the fall of 1685." - (en.wikipedia.org 27.12.2020)
