In 1798 Admiral Fyodor Ushakov was sent to the Mediterranean in command of a joint Russian-Turkish squadron to support General Alexander Suvorov's forthoming Italian and Swiss expedition (1799–1800). One of the main tasks assigned to the squadron was the liberation from the French of the strategically important Ionian Islands. In October 1798 the French garrisons were driven from Cythera, Zakynthos, Cephalonia, and Lefkada. It remained to release the largest and best-fortified island of the archipelago, Corfu.