Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

=== Diplomacy and trade ===
[[File:Alexander Litovchenko - Ivan the Terrible Showing Treasures to the English Ambassador Jerome Horsey.jpg|thumb|300px|''Ivan the Terrible Showing His Treasures to [[Jerome Horsey]]'' by [[Alexander Litovchenko]] (1875)]]

In 1547, Hans Schlitte, the agent of Ivan, recruited craftsmen in Germany for work in Russia. However, all of the craftsmen were arrested in [[Lübeck]] at the request of Poland and [[Livonia]]. The German merchant companies ignored the new [[Ivangorod|port built by Ivan]] on the [[Narva River|River Narva]] in 1550 and continued to deliver goods in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] ports owned by Livonia. Russia remained isolated from sea trade.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Ivan established close ties with the [[Kingdom of England]]. Russian–English relations can be traced to 1551, when the [[Muscovy Company]] was formed by [[Richard Chancellor]], [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]], Sir [[Hugh Willoughby]] and several London merchants. In 1553, Chancellor sailed to the [[White Sea]] and continued overland to Moscow, where he visited Ivan's court. Ivan opened up the White Sea and the port of [[Arkhangelsk]] to the company and granted it privilege of trading throughout his reign without paying the standard customs fees.{{sfn|Martin|2007|pp=403, 407}}

With the use of English merchants, Ivan engaged in a long correspondence with [[Elizabeth I of England]]. While the queen focused on commerce, Ivan was more interested in a military alliance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dmytryshyn |first=Basil |date=2000 |title=Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850–1700 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21443219 |location=Gulf Breeze, FL |publisher=Academic International Press |page=301 |isbn=0-875-69-218-4|oclc=21443219 }}</ref> Ivan even proposed to her once, and during his troubled relations with the boyars, he even asked her for a guarantee to be granted asylum in England if his rule was jeopardised.<ref name="muscovy">Crankshaw, Edward, ''Russia and Britain'', Collins, ''The Nations and Britain'' series.</ref> Elizabeth agreed on the condition that he provide for himself during his potential stay.<ref>{{cite news|title=Russians in London: Government in exile|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21692934-new-generation-migr-s-has-plans-homeland-they-never-wanted-flee-government|access-date=12 February 2016|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=12 February 2016}}</ref>

Ivan corresponded with overseas Orthodox leaders. In response to a letter of [[Patriarch Joachim of Alexandria]] asking him for financial assistance for the [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]], in the [[Sinai Peninsula]], which had suffered by the Turks, Ivan sent in 1558 a delegation to [[Egypt Eyalet]] by Archdeacon Gennady, who, however, died in Constantinople before he could reach Egypt. From then on, the embassy was headed by [[Smolensk]] merchant Vasily Poznyakov, whose delegation visited Alexandria, Cairo and Sinai; brought the patriarch a fur coat and an icon sent by Ivan and left an interesting account of his two-and-a-half years of travels.<ref>[http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=5142 ХОЖДЕНИЕ НА ВОСТОК ГОСТЯ ВАСИЛИЯ ПОЗНЯКОВА С ТОВАРИЩИ] (The travels to the Orient by the merchant Vasily Poznyakov and his companions) {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

Ivan was the first ruler to begin cooperating with the free cossacks on a large scale. Relations were handled through the Posolsky Prikaz diplomatic department; Moscow sent them money and weapons, while tolerating their freedoms, to draw them into an alliance against the Tatars. The first evidence of cooperation surfaces in 1549 when Ivan ordered the Don Cossacks to attack Crimea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander Filjushkin |title=Ivan the Terrible: A Military History |date=2008 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1473815599 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQDSAwAAQBAJ&q=cossacks |chapter=Chapter 1 Russian Military Forces in the Sixteenth Century: Infrastructure of the Russian Army}}</ref>