It is broadly assumed that attempts by the Russian state of Muscovy to establish stable diplomatic and mercantile channels to India via Central Asia were started upon the initiative of the Emperor Peter I (1682–1725). Such attempts are generally interpreted as being part of a large-scale project that reflected the growing imperial and colonial ambitions of Russia and which, in turn, entailed strong antagonism from the ruling elites of Central Asia, thereby setting a tone for relations that would continue for the next century and more of reciprocal relations between the local principalities and Russia. By exploring chancellery documents from seventeenth-century Muscovy, we find that the first diplomatic communications between Russia, Khiva, and Bukhara can in fact be dated to long before the reign of Peter I. The first Romanov tsars sought to initiate exchanges with Khiva and Bukhara as a means of establishing diplomatic and commercial ties with the Mughal emperors; at the same time, meanwhile, the authorities in Khiva and Bukhara had their own reasons for pushing Muscovy to engage with Central Asia as a conduit to India. Over the course of the seventeenth century, Central Asian diplomats went to great lengths—both in diplomatic correspondence and through direct interpersonal contacts—to convince their Russian counterparts of the region's attractiveness as a source of precious Indian commodities and as a logistically convenient passage to India. Despite such rhetoric, however, the authorities in Khiva and Bukhara were in fact highly reluctant to “open” the region to Russian agents: repeated attempts by Muscovy to engage in diplomatic fact-finding as a means of establishing influence in the region invariably foundered in the face of Central Asian resistance. Bukharan and Khivan circles seem, in fact, to have held out the enticing idea of “a passage to India” simply as a rhetorical device to secure recognition in Muscovy for their own diplomatic and mercantile missions.

人们普遍认为，俄罗斯俄国国试图在彼得一世（1682–1725年）的倡议下开始通过中亚建立通往印度的稳定外交和商业渠道。这种尝试通常被解释为是一个大型项目的一部分，该项目反映了俄罗斯日益增长的帝国主义和殖民野心，而这反过来又引起了中亚执政精英的强烈反对，从而为两国之间的关系定下了基调。在下一世纪，以及地方公国与俄罗斯之间的更多互惠关系。通过研究17世纪莫斯科的总理府文件，我们发现俄罗斯，希瓦和布哈拉之间的首次外交交流实际上可以追溯到彼得一世统治之前。第一批罗曼诺夫沙皇试图与希瓦和布哈拉进行交流，以与莫卧儿皇帝建立外交和商业关系。同时，希瓦和布哈拉当局有自己的理由促使莫斯科人与中亚接触，以此作为通向印度的渠道。在17世纪的过程中，中亚外交官竭尽全力-进行外交往来和通过直接人际交往-使其俄罗斯同行相信该地区作为印度珍贵商品的来源以及从后勤上方便地进入印度的吸引力。尽管发表了这样的言论，但希瓦和布哈拉当局实际上极不愿意向俄罗斯特工“开放”该地区：莫斯科人反复尝试进行外交事实调查，以此作为在该地区树立影响力的一种手段，而这一势力在面对中亚抵抗运动时总是根深蒂固。实际上，布哈拉和基文圈子似乎提出了“通向印度”这一诱人的想法，只是作为一种措辞手段，以确保莫斯科人对其自己的外交和商业使命予以认可。