 Due to the low status these provinces held in the empire, priority was given to the fulfilment of these export quotas.The Government in Stockholm were slow to react to the developing famine and did not relax their policies until 1697 when it was too late.Peter the Great cited the inadequate provisioning of Peter's retinue of 250 people and horses as they passed through the province during the famine in 1697 by the Swedish Governor General as one of the main pretexts for declaring war against Sweden in 1700, the Great Northern War.