Based on documentary material and scientific literature, the article highlights the place of the North Caucasus in Russia's foreign policy at the time under review. The progressive decline of Shah's Iran and Sultan's Turkey, and the active entry of Peter's Russia into the international arena put the question of the fate of the Caucasus, in particular the North Caucasus, in the circle of important problems of world politics in the period under study. Having become one of the main sources of contradictions in relations between Russia, Persia and the Ottoman Porte, the Caucasus, due to its important geostrategic positions, attracted the attention of the European leading powers - Britain and France. In addition, the role of Ottoman and Western emissaries in Russia's foreign policy during the period under study is considered. Western States, along with the implementation of the "Eastern barrier" policy in Europe, incited the confrontation of Iran and Turkey with the Russian Empire in the Caucasus in order to prevent the advance of St. Petersburg to the Caspian and Black seas, and Russia's exit to the middle East. To this end, the European powers sought to use the support b ases of the Ottoman Sultan and the Crimean Khan, created on the approaches to the North Caucasus in the XVI-XVII centuries. The contradictions between Britain and France on European Affairs, on the one hand, and between Iran and Turkey, on the other, did not exclude the possibility of temporary compromises between the rival States, which was also facilitated by the obvious anti - Russian orientation of their policy in the Caucasus. The Pro-Russian attitude of the local population in the Crimean war and their active desire to fight on the side of the Russian troops are also shown.
