THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN POLICY FACTORS ON THE NORTH CAUCASUS POLICY OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST DECADE OF THE XIX CENTURY
The paper analyzes the circumstances that influenced the formation of Russian politics in the Caucasus after the accession of the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom to the empire. The dificulties that the tsarist administration had to face, interested in the speedy paciication of local peoples and their entry into the legal space of the state.We consider the reaction to this from neighboring powers, which were competitors to the Russian Empire in the region. In the Caucasus, Turkish and Persian agents actively acted, who did their best to provoke a rebellion of local peoples against Russians. A variety of means were used for this, from propaganda and bribing representatives of the local nobility to an open armed invasion. In this situation, the Russian administration was forced to use forceful methods of dealing with its rivals. Given the very limited means that the empire could afford to keep on newly acquired lands, it was necessary to go for the physical elimination of the most problematic opponents. The exponent of this course was P.D. Tsitsianov, who managed in a short time to ensure the strengthening of the position of the Russian authorities in the region. The death of the prince forced him to succeed Count I.V. Gudovich to act more carefully and try to neutralize the hostile steps of part of the highlanders with the help of bribery, which in the oficial correspondence was called the policy of "taming". Such measures were caused by the need to focus on the ight against an external threat, leaving the solution of internal problems to a more favorable time. Neither Persia nor the Ottoman Empire reconciled with their failures in the struggle for the Caucasus. Because of the wars that began, Russia managed to inflict a number of defeats on them and force them to conclude peace that not only conirmed its former rights to these territories, but also expanded them even more. As a result of the victories won, Petersburg got the opportunity to focus its efforts on the "paciication" of mountain tribes, who from now on would have to sacriice part of their usual ways of interacting with their neighbors, namely, abandon raiding practice.