In 1802, the sergeant of the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment, Samson Myakintsev, unwilling to tolerate the tyranny of his company commander, fled to Persia. There, he was received with honor and offered to form the Erivan Regiment from Russian deserters. There was no shortage of privates. "How could a soldier of that time resist the Persians' temptations? Here, heavy service for many years, and there, freedom and wives in abundance!" wrote Decembrist Gangeblov. Some converted to Islam, while others remained faithful to Orthodoxy and swore allegiance to the khan on the Christian Gospel. Both were exempted from participating in the war against the Russian army.

Seven years later, under the command of the sarhang Samson-shah, as named by Shah Abbas-Mirza, there were already thousands of soldiers and officers. Samson Myakintsev tried to preserve the Russian spirit and fidelity to the faith of their ancestors in his unit. In the village of Surgyule, granted to him, he built an Orthodox church, where an Orthodox priest served. Samson-khan's soldiers fought so bravely against the Turks in Kurdistan in 1820 that they were nicknamed bokhadyrans (heroes). By the way, the personal guard of the shah consisted of Russians. In 1821, the headquarters of the Russian army assessed this regiment at 2000 bayonets.

In 1828, diplomat and writer Alexander Griboedov was the first to draw the Russian emperor's attention to the defectors. The situation was exacerbated by news of the British plans to create a battalion of Russian fugitives for the war in the Caucasus. On behalf of the tsar, diplomats demanded the shah to hand over all the "fugitives."

Tehran responded that no one was being held against their will, and everyone was free to choose. However, there were no volunteers to return to Russia. The emperor then offered Samson Myakintsev the rank of sergeant, and his officers the continuation of service in their previous ranks. It is hard to understand what Nicholas I was counting on. For the colonels to return to the positions of ensigns and leave their harems? Out of 2000 Russians, only 35 agreed to return. The rest of the bokhadyrans chose to remain in Persia.