in the campaign “Forced Labor on Imperial Construction: The Ladoga Canal (1704–1725)”
The mass mobilization of Cossack regiments for penal construction labor: the digging of the Ladoga Canal "was carried out chiefly by the hands of Ukrainian Cossacks," and there "tens of thousands of people perished from back-breaking labor, hunger and the harsh climate"[1]. In 1721 a "10,000-strong Cossack corps" headed by P. Polubotok was dispatched to the canal[2]; the works continued through 1721–23[3].