superpower. Alexander I of Kakheti became the first Georgian King to establish formal diplomatic contact with the Russians, dispatching two embassies to Grand Duke Ivan III of Muscovy in 1483 and 1491. In 1556, Astrakhan was conquered by Ivan the Terrible. After eleven years Terek-Town fort was built, Russians became nearly direct neighbours of Kakheti. In 1563, King Levan, grandson of Alexander I, appealed to the Muscovites to take his realm under their protection against the Ottomans, and Safavids. Tsar Ivan IV responded by sending a Russian detachment to Georgia, but Levan, pressured by Iran, had to turn these troops back after several years. King Alexander II also appealed for Russian support against foreign encroachments. In 1587, he negotiated The Book of Pledge, forming an alliance between Kakheti and the Russian Tsardom. David I of Kakheti (1601–1602), the rebellious son of Alexander II, during his short reign reaffirmed loyalty to the foreign policy of his predecessors. However, as the Times of Troubles began in Russia, Georgian political entities could not count on Muscovite assistance in their struggle for independence. Seventeenth century: Abbas I's invasions, Teimuraz I, struggle for survival In 1605, Constantine, younger son of Alexander II, who was raised at the Safavid court and converted to Islam, according to Shah's secret instruction assassinated his father and brother. The assassination of the royal family and usurpation of the crown by Constantine I infuriated the Georgians, who rose in a rebellion under the direction of Queen Ketevan later that year. On October 22, 1605, the Kakhetian army routed the Qizilbash forces of Constantine, who was killed on the battlefield. Caught by surprise, Abbas I grudgingly accepted the result of the 1605 Uprising and was forced to confirm sixteen years old Teimuraz I (1605–1648) – nemesis of the Safavids in the future – as a new King of Kakheti. In 1612, the treaty of Nasuh Pasha was concluded, war with the Ottomans was temporarily over. From now on Shah Abbas I could attack eastern Georgia without hindrance – dethrone Christian Kings, establish Qizilbash khanates and deport or exterminate insubmissive Georgians from their homeland. In October 1613, Abbas I moved his army to Ganja. Next spring, he turned on Kakheti, demanding Teimuraz's sons as hostages. After taking counsel, Teimuraz I sent his mother Ketevan and his younger son, Alexander, to Iran. The Shah insisted; reluctantly, the Kakhetians sent the heir, Levan. Shah Abbas