"In general, I’m a big fan of India and the East – this must be Basargin Tatarism" (Vice-Admiral Grigory Gavrilovich Basargin – military governor of the Astrakhan province and commander of the Caspian flotilla)

In the history of the Russian Empire until today, there are quite a few little-studied topics. One of them is stories with the participation of naval officers of the Imperial Russian Navy of Turkic origin. This study examines the historical episode in which the military governor of the Astrakhan province, the commander of the Caspian flotilla, Vice-Admiral Grigory Gavrilovich Basargin took part, whose ancestors came from the Golden Horde, left a noticeable mark in resolving a number of pressing issues in establishing ties with the countries of the East. In addition, today's public, and the scientific community as a whole, with the rare exception of specialists dealing with this scientific topic, perceive the immigrants from the Turkic people as being engaged in solving exclusively terrestrial problems. However, there was a time when representatives of our people took an active part in the enormous diplomatic, political and naval efforts on the part of imperial Russia to advance in the southeast direction. For citation: Nasyrov K.Z. "In general, I’m a big fan of India and the East – this must be Basargin Tatarism" (Vice-Admiral Grigory Gavrilovich Basargin – military governor of the Astrakhan province and commander of the Caspian flotilla). From History and Culture of Peoples of the Middle Volga Region. 2024, vol.14, no.1, pp.109–116. https://doi.org/10.22378/2410-0765.2024-14-1.109-116 (In Russian)