Under Ivan III (1462–1505), a unified Russian state took shape, receiving the name Russia. The country’s geopolitical tasks—as a militarily strong European power of the early modern era—were determined by its neighbors: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which included a large part of the Rus’ lands), the Livonian and Swedish possessions to the west, and the Tatar khanates that arose after the collapse of the Golden Horde to the east and south. This environment required a deliberate and systematic foreign policy. To counter Sweden, Ivan III concluded an alliance with Denmark; against Lithuania and the Great Horde, he allied with the Crimean Khanate, which by the second half of the fifteenth century had become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. This policy ensured Russia’s success in a series of wars with Lithuania (under both Ivan III and Vasily III), contributed to the disintegration of the Great Horde, and established Russian suzerainty over the Kazan Khanate. Expanding westward and eastward, Russia simultaneously developed diplomatic and commercial relations with the states of Central, Southern, and Northern Europe—namely, the Holy Roman Empire (ruled by the Habsburgs), Venice, Moldavia, and the Hanseatic cities.
During the reign of Ivan IV (1533–1584), by 1549 a central foreign-policy institution had taken shape—the Posolsky Prikaz (Ambassadorial Office), which would function until the early eighteenth century. Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia achieved major successes in the east: the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates were incorporated into Russia, and access to the Caspian Sea stimulated foreign trade with Iran, initiating the long process of Siberian exploration. These great advances, however, led to prolonged conflicts with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. The western situation was even more complex. Russia’s attempt to secure its interests in Livonia resulted in war with Sweden, Lithuania, and Poland. The protracted Livonian War (1558–1583) ended unfavorably for Russia: the former territories of the dissolved Livonian Order passed to its opponents—Sweden and Poland, which united with Lithuania to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569). As a result, Russia was virtually cut off from the Baltic Sea, and direct maritime trade with the countries of Northern Europe (including England and the Netherlands) became possible only through its northern ports—Kholmogory and Arkhangelsk.
Under Fyodor Ivanovich (1584–1598), thanks to the energetic policies of Boris Godunov (the de facto ruler), the line of fortified border defenses advanced southward to Belgorod and Tsaritsyn. Active colonization of Siberia continued, and in the west, as a result of a successful war with Sweden, Russia regained in 1595 the towns of the Izhora land—Ivangorod, Koporye, and Korela—thereby restoring access to the shores of the Baltic Sea.
