IN THE POLITICS OF RUSSIA, PERSIA AND THE OTTOMAN PORTE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE ‘30S – ‘50S OF THE XVII CENTURY

The article, based on a wide range of archival data and special academic literature, provides a science-based description of the political situation of the state formations of the North Caucasus of the period under study. Against the background of the complex historical events of the time in question, the role of local peoples in relations between Russia and Shah Iran and Sultan Turkey (its vassal - the Crimean Khanate) is shown. In addition, much attention is paid to the internecine war that broke out in the region in the early ‘40s of the XVII century, which led to a change in the balance of power of the North Caucasian ruling elites of different foreign policy orientation. Over the course of several centuries, the North-Eastern Caucasus became the object of expansion of the adjacent great power of the time, Shah Iran. Shah Iran sought not only to maintain its influence in the Caucasus, especially in the Caspian Sea basin but also to push the northern borders of the Shah possessions to the Terek. According to the author, the Persian shahs, in achieving their goals, tried by any means to attract influential local rulers to their side and make them an instrument of their policy in the Caucasus. In such a complex international political situation, the North Caucasian rulers, primarily the Tarkovsky shamkhals, deftly tacked Iran and Russia in contradictions, successfully defending their independence.