Paradoxes and Realities of the Iranian Politics of the First Romanovs

Abstract

The paper based on materials from Fonds 77 “Relations between Russia and Persia” of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts describes numerous episodes related to robberies and other conflicts between Russian and Iranian subjects in the context of the common amiable policy of their monarchs. Almost every letter from Shah Safi I (1629–1642) which was addressed to Mikhail Fedorovich contained assurances of a friendly attitude (“loving friendship”). The strategic line chosen by the two monarchs aimed at preserving and developing trade contacts between the two states was noticeably limited to tactical actions for the personal benefit of Russian and, to a larger extent, Iranian officials, representatives of the regional administration. The uprisings on the periphery of the Safavid state, in particular in Gilan, were accompanied by numerous cases of robbery of the tsar’s subjects. The Cossack raids, which intensified in the Caspian in view of Moscow’s ban on “going” to the Black Sea coast in the early 1630s, were already one of the main obstacles to Iranian trade. At the same time, the example of the embassy of the merchant (in Russian — kupchina, tsar’s or shah’s trade representative) Khvaji Rakhmat (1630–1631), the attempts of the Astrakhan governors to stop the robberies of the Cossacks on the Caspian coast, as well as the actions of the Shah to compensate for the property robbed in Lakhidjan, demonstrate that the two sides intended to maintain the “loving friendship”, albeit with varying degrees of success.