abram stayed in the ottoman empire for about a year in the service of sultan ahmed iii's household. at the time, the russian ambassador sava vladislavich-raguzinsky, representing peter the great, was looking for "a few clever little african slaves" for the tsar's palace in moscow, as was the custom in those days at the great courts in europe. on orders of vladislavich's superiors (one of whom was pyotr andreyevich tolstoy, great-grandfather of the celebrated writer leo tolstoy), abram was selected for this purpose and soon ransomed from the sultan's viziers with a bribe. in 1704, the ambassador immediately dispatched him by land to moscow in order to be presented to tsar peter the great.