Annotation
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Several modern Russian historians have shown that at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, under the three autocrats who ruled at that time (Catherine II, Paul I, Alexander I), the evolution of attitude of the supreme power of the Russian Empire towards the North Caucasus took place, including its north the western part, which is the subject of our consideration. Under Catherine II and Paul I, a rather cautious, restrained policy was carried out aimed at preventing the aggravation of relations with the Ottoman Porte, and in terms of attitudes towards Gortsy it was characterized as "caressing", whereas under Alexander I, it gradually transformed into harsher actions ("reprisals"). These harsh actions became dominant with the arrival of A.P. Ermolov for the post of Chief Commander in the Caucasus and Commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps who replaced administrators that supported "caressing" such as N.F. Rtishchev. The article examines a number of recently published documents from the State Archives of Krasnodar Krai, which, in general, confirming this picture, reveal interesting nuances of St. Petersburg's policy towards Trans-Kuban. In general, the materials reviewed once again confirm that the process of integrating the Gortsy of the Northwestern Caucasus (as well as the entire region) into Russia and formalizing the historical and cultural partnership of both parties were complex, gradual, multi-stage. These processes were associated with objective and subjective difficulties aggravated by contradictory tendencies (for example, the phenomenon of muhajirism), however, proceeded with a predominance of the Russian vector.
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Keywords
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Yassk peace treaty, Trans-Kuban, Circassia, "caressing", "reprisals", Trans-Kuban "predators", Circassian-Gai, Circassian Yasyrs, Trans-Kuban Nogays, sultans, Murza.
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