This book is devoted to Russian-Crimean relations, when Crimea was the focus of Russian military-diplomatic activity in the South. The alliance with the Crimean Khanate helped Moscow defeat the successors of the Golden Horde, and the confrontation with it determined the future of the Moscow kingdom. Crimea opened Russia's entrance to the world of the Eastern Question, becoming the center for which it withstood the battle with the leading powers. No comparable territory cost Russia in the XVI-XIX centuries. such sacrifices and efforts as this peninsula.