The fledgling Russia had begun a moderate expansion under Ivan’s grandfather, Ivan the Great, but that expansion accelerated after he came to power in 1533. It encroached east on the Urals, south to the Caspian Sea, and north toward the Arctic Circle. It gained access to the Caspian, and later the Black Sea, thus taking advantage of the Caucasus Mountains as a partial barrier between it and the Mongols. A military base was built in Chechnya to deter any would-be attacker, be they the Mongol Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire, or the Persians

The fledgling Russia had begun a moderate expansion under Ivan’s grandfather, Ivan the Great,
but that expansion accelerated after he came to power in 1533. It encroached east on the Urals, south
to the Caspian Sea, and north toward the Arctic Circle. It gained access to the Caspian, and later the
Black Sea, thus taking advantage of the Caucasus Mountains as a partial barrier between it and the
Mongols. A military base was built in Chechnya to deter any would-be attacker, be they the Mongol
Golden Horde, the Ottoman Empire, or the Persians