He pretended at first to be the Muscovite boyar Nagoy, but falsely confessed under torture that he was Tsarevich Dmitry, whereupon he was taken at his word and joined by thousands of Cossacks, Poles, and Muscovites.
Han påstod først at være den moskovitiske bojar Nagoy, men tilstod under tortur, at han var Tsarevitj Dmitrij, hvorefter han blev taget på ordet og fik følgeskab af tusindvis af kosakker, polakker og moskovitter.