Career
A cunning diplomat and polyglot, he was described by his contemporaries as one of the "remarkable phenomena of Catherine the Great"s century". Lashkarev was reportedly fluent in ten languages. Besides Russian and Georgian, he spoke French, Italian, Turkish, Persian, Greek, Armenian, Arabic, and Latin.
In 1800, Lashkarev was actively involved in diplomatic exchanges with the Ottoman Empire in connection with the impending Russian annexation of various Georgian kingdoms and principalities, and remained in charge of Georgian affairs at the Imperial court under Alexander I of Russia.