Moscow, although such daring did not always pass unpunished.
About 1545 the goods imported by Jewish merchants from
Brest-Litovsk to Moscow were burned there, on which occasion
the Muscovite ambassador called the attention of the Polish
Government to the fact that the Jews had imported forbidden
merchandise to Russia, though they had not even the right to
travel thither. In 1550 the Polish King Sigismund Augustus
addressed a "charter" to Tzar Ivan the Terrible ( Ivan IV.),
demanding the admission of Lithuanian Jews into Russia for
business purposes, by virtue of the former commercial treaties
between the two countries. Ivan IV. rejected this demand in
resolute terms:

It is not convenient to allow Jews to come with their goods to
Russia, since many evils result from them. For they import
poisonous herbs [medicines] into our realm, and lead astray the
Russians from Christianity. Therefore he, the [Polish] King,
should no more write about these Jews.

Ivan the Terrible soon had occasion to demonstrate con-
cretely that he was not inclined to tolerate Jews in his domains.
When, in 1563, the Russian troops occupied the Polish border
city Polotzk, ¹ the Tzar gave orders to have all local Jews
converted to the Greek Orthodox faith, and those who refused
baptism drowned in the Dvina. His attitude towards the Poles
was more indulgent. He contented himself in their case
with taking them captive and demolishing their churches.
Fortanately a few years later, in 1579, Polotzk was restored to
Poland through the bravery of Stephen Batory, the protector
of the Jews.

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