By the turn of the XV - XVI centuries the international position of the Circassians was determined by the existence of two political blocs that resulted from the conflict between the former estates of the Golden Horde.Continuing the tradition of dynastic marriages, which occupied an important place in the foreign policy of Kabarda, he gives his daughter Altynchach for the Astrakhan "prince" Bekbulat, and his other daughter Malkhorub for Tinakhmet, one of the sons of Ismail, the ruler of Big Nogai. But in the long term, these measures could not serve as a guarantee of the security of Kabarda. Therefore, Temryuk is increasingly inclined towards an alliance with the Moscow state, which no less needed strong allies in the Caucasus. Temryuk Idarov was well aware that this alliance could further strengthen the position of Kabarda not only throughout Circassia, but also in relations with neighboring states and peoples. During 1552-1561, an intensive exchange of embassies took place between many Adyg's owners and the Moscow state, negotiations were underway for mutual assistance and support, primarily military. First, through the official embassies, the princes of Beslaney and Zhanety, who most of all experienced pressure from the Crimea and Turkey, turned to the Moscow sovereign. The first news of the conversion of the Adygs (Circassian) rulers to Moscow reached us in the Nikon Chronicle, which says that in November 1552 they came to the Tsar with a request for patronage. The embassy was headed by the Beslaneev prince Maashuk Kanukov and the Abaza owner Ivan Ezbozlukov. In August 1555, a new Adygeyan embassy arrived in Moscow. It was headed by the Zhaneev princes Sibok, his son Kudadek and brother Atsymguk, as well as the Abaza prince Tutaryk Ezbozlukov. As a result of the negotiations, allied relations of a number of Western Adig principalities (Zhanety, Beslenei, possibly Temirgoy) with Moscow were formalized, but these relations did not provide for the inclusion of Circassia in the state borders of the Russian state. 3. The agreement with the Adygs created an advantageous position for the Russian state in relations with the Crimea. So, upon receipt of news about the Crimean campaign to the North Caucasus in 1555, it was decided to send a 13-thousandth army headed by I.V. Sheremetev to distract the Tatars from their new allies and from Astrakhan. Diplomatic relations between Circassia and Rus became more active and developed especially broadly in 1557, when the Beslenei prince Maashuk Kanukov, the Janeyev prince Sibok Kansaukov and other owners arrived in Moscow with a large Adygean army to serve. Following them, in July 1557, an embassy headed by Prince Kanklych Kanukov arrived to Ivan IV on behalf of the Supreme Prince of Kabarda Temryuk Idarov with specific requests for help and military cooperation. This event raised the level of Russian-Adyg relations to new heights. The result of the Russian-Circassian negotiations was a military-political alliance, which determined the place of Kabarda in the political space of the North Caucasus for many decades to come. If necessary and as far as possible, the Moscow state and Kabarda pledged to provide each other with military assistance in the fight against external and internal enemies and to carry out military service for this purpose on the territory of the union state. This laid the foundation for an alliance of vital importance for both countries, which became an impressive response to the threats posed by the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, Poland, Sweden, Iran and other neighboring states. The agreements between Kabarda and Russia arose and did not function as a one-time act. They were worked out and formed gradually, over two or three decades, and not only in the course of negotiations and the signing of relevant agreements, but also in the practice of the military community. Already at the very beginning of the exchange of embassies, in the summer of 1555, the army of the boyar I.V. Sheremetev was sent to the steppe to meet the troops of the Crimean Khan in order to distract them from the campaign against Kabarda. Adygs in 1558 take an active part in the actions of the Russian troops in the outbreak of the Livonian War. The documents of that period say that the Circassian princes with their squads acted in the advanced regiment, headed by the Beslenei prince Maashuk Kanukov. In 1560, at the request of the Kabardian princes, Ivan IV sent an army led by the governor Ivan Cheremisinov on a campaign against the Dagestan shamkhal, a longtime enemy of Kabarda. At the same time, everything possible is being done so that Temryuk could prevail over his political opponents from among the Kabardian and other North Caucasian owners. 4. The breakthrough in Russian-Kabardian relations was sealed in 1561 by the marriage of Ivan the Terrible to the daughter of the supreme prince of Kabarda. A year after the death of his wife Anastasia, he married the youngest daughter of Temryuk Idarov Guashany (Kuchenyi). The wedding took place on August 21, 1561 in Moscow. Ivan IV's wedding gift was a golden dish decorated with floral ornaments, a two-headed Russian coat of arms and an inscription dedicated to the Tsarina and Grand Duchess Maria. Now this dish is kept in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. Ivan IV established for Maria Temryukovna a gold ring seal with the image of the Russian state emblem, and the inscription "Tsarina and Grand Duchess Marya seal", which she used in correspondence with her husband (today the seal of Maria Temryukovna is kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow).In September 1562, in connection with the aggravated situation in Kabarda, which threatened the dismissal of Temryuk, Ivan IV sent there from Astrakhan 500 riflemen and 500 Cossacks, headed by Grigory Pleshcheev, who was ordered to be at the complete disposal of Temryuk and obey him in everything.Taking advantage of such support, Temryuk entered the rebellious Kaitukin's Kabarda and defeated the combined troops of Kaituko Beslanovich and his son-in-law Kazy Urakov, the ruler of the Small Nogai Horde.First, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey entered into an alliance with the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III (1462-1505), who pursued a policy of creating a centralized Russian state and in 1480 refused to pay tribute to the Great Horde.In 1515, the Turks laid two fortresses on the border of Circassia for protection from the Circassians - Temryuk at the mouth of the Kuban and Kizil-Tash on the Adakhun island, bounded by the Kuban and Adagum rivers and the sea coast.Concerned about the beginning contacts of the Circassians with Ivan IV, as well as the stubbornness with which the Kabardians defend their interests in Astrakhan, in 1553 the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey attacked Kabarda.2.